The Garden of Stone
by AntiCensor
Summary: Three years later. Two original protagonists with wiped memories are responsible for the return of Ultimecia. POV characters include three OC's, Quistis, Squall, Fujin. NOT GARYSTU. Three Lemons, Three Love scenes.
1. Introduction

1_Disclaimer: I own none of the copyrighted material of FF8 and Squaresoft borrowed for this story, neither do I own Wrigley's gum, Rice a Roni, Ramen noodles, or anything written by Hunter S. Thompson ever. You will be able to point out the original material used in this story for yourselves. Lemons/Love Scenes occur in between the __**L**__ markers._

_The direction of the eye_

_So misleading_

_The defection of the soul_

_Nauseously quick_

_I don't question_

_Our existence_

_I just question_

_Our modern needs_

_I will walk with my hands bound_

_I will walk with my face, blood_

_I will walk with my shadow flag_

_Into your Garden_

_Garden of stone_

_After all is done_

_We're still alone_

_I won't be taken_

_Yet I'll go…_

_With my hands bound_

_I will walk with my face, blood_

_I will walk with my shadow flag_

_Into your Garden_

_Garden of stone_

_I don't show…_

_I don't share_

_I don't need_

_What you have to give_

_Garden by Pearl Jam. How perfect is that for an FF8 fic'?_

**Part One: Garden of Stone**

**First Impression**

In the Garden of Stone, the training center itself sleeps. The water is as still as the air, the plants waver not when the insects touch them, the dinosaurs snore silently –moving but disturbing not even the dirt they sleep upon. The doors were fixed just yesterday, totally air tight, not a sound will come in or out.

The new girl's steps are the only sound.

Joselyn (Joze-lin) just transferred from Trabia Garden a few days ago and had already taken a liking to Balamb Garden. Her room mate Tucker was a moron but there were plenty of other people to talk to in the garden.

Cody for example was the first student Joselyn had met. He was a really bland looking guy who would fail to offend you even if you tried to trick him into it. She was yet to find something wrong with him but she wasn't going to give up so soon after meeting him. Joselyn loves people's flaws: she loves to savor their embarrassment then save face by forgiving everything at once.

She didn't have very much trouble with Tucker though. All she has to do is take a completely different schedule from his and neglect to come to their dorm until late –not very late though, the little wuss opposes night-owlishness. However her schedule wouldn't come in to play for another day so she finds herself just slacking off.

She's only been at B-Garden a few days but she's already decided her favorite place is the training center. She found it was the least popular hang out spot in the entire Garden due to the dinosaurs. She didn't care; she was prepared in case such an emergency should arise. She'd run. But that was yet to happen and Joselyn tried to not think of it. Her fear of this is secret. Whenever she wasn't having a meal or reading in the library she was in the training center. This was her main strategy for avoiding the wimp Tucker.

Tucker, even his name was stupid. She sometimes wondered why a parent would do such a thing to their child. But the name definitely fit. The boy tucked all of his clothes; pant cuffs into socks, shirt into pants, etc. Ridiculous. Everything about him was so tight and strained. His muscles were out of shape. His cheek muscles were always contorted, giving him a permanent retarded grin. And his voice sounded like it was changing, even though the boy was 18. Surely he'd never make SeeD, in fact, Joselyn was surprised he'd made cadet.

Joselyn on the other hand was a vision of beauty enhanced by the 'unaware' type of modesty. She had healthy fair skin; she was slim and feminine at 6'0. Her shoulders are narrow -but strong- and great long limbs. Her clothes fit her closely, black's blues and whites. Her lips are pink like a babies gums. Her hair was pulled back into three braids in a vertical row. Somehow separate from the rest of her hair were her bangs. The left side of her face was robbed of hair while the right masked a portion of her face. It covered her right eye, and slimmed down to a tip that tickled the corner of her mouth when she smiled. And her eyes were the colors of a dying lime: her right the dark skin and her left the flaking meat inside.

She is walking in circles today. Normally she would have just sat and observed the passers-by but there were no passers-by this morning. Her right hand rested on the hilt of her weapon which hung firmly at her hip. It was a katana, 4 ½ feet long, the last 2 feet of which was the hilt. It was a parting gift from her old friends in T-Garden. She had broken her weapon prior to leaving and, deciding that it would either be ages or never since they would see one another again, they all chipped in to have it fixed and upgraded.

Joselyn shakes her head. _Trailing off again, you're supposed to stay on your guard in the training center, now is the time to pay attention_. She could reminisce later.

Joselyn reaches inside her inner jacket pocket. But before she can touch her snack she hears an excited rustling sound. She stops like a deer suspicious of a hunter, turns her head to the bush that rustled.

The leaves shaken loose are just touching the ground when Joselyn looks. Behind the thin veil of foliage she sees a head; pale but living features on a somewhat feminine face, but the masculinity was clear. Locks of long hair shaped like crows feathers black and copper colored.

And the eyes.

Joselyn always used to scoff when she listened to her friends take about boy's eyes, how it's their gaze that gets you. But this boy has her frozen. This boy's eyes are captivating and ghostly blue like a corpses eyes, glazed over, but focused unlike the look of anything dead. She can't see his pupils.

Lastly she saw something she really didn't want to see. Sure she was feeling energetic but, but… But his face rose up and he was grinning madly. Happier than he should have been about being spotted.

The boy leapt from his hiding place and drew his weapons from his hips. She guarded her face with her scabbard and budged just one inch, she won't back off more than an inch just yet.

Joselyn has one second to get a look at her enemy and she sees a lot. He moves like a beast –only shaped like a teenage boy—and he's armed with a large pair of sharpened crowbars. He pulls away and swings at her wildly, the crowbars spinning around his wrists by black leather tassels. Black tornados like feral cats on crack.

Joselyn almost trips.

Then she catches herself touching her fingertips to the dirt. She leaps backwards and, digging her sword into the ground, flings dirt into the boys face coming back up. Joselyn spins around breaking into a run for the exit, doesn't look back to see if it got in his eyes.

She ran fast around the training center, searching for any environmental advantage she could have. She knows she should just run and find help, but, well… fuck that. This kid isn't a dinosaur so she should be able to handle him. She has no delusions of reward; she'll surely be punished just as this kid will for this but that doesn't matter. She should be able to handle him, but she doesn't know if she can.

So she has to prove it to herself.

Ahead of her, in one corner next to the arch above the entrance was a mound of rocks dusted generously with the dirt from the path. On top was the largest one and it looked very, very loose. She didn't want to worry but she couldn't help it, she couldn't hear him running behind her, she wanted to look, she knew she shouldn't.

She took one second to consider: Exit or boulder, exit or boulder, exit or boulder, safety or danger.

_Fuck it._

Joselyn runs up the mound and wedges herself behind the rock. She pushes with her legs as hard as she can, scraping her back against the rough metallic wall. Gritting her teeth and scratching at the walls behind her in worry, unable to see him. She wasn't unconfident that she could take him, but she **was **worried that he had worse intentions than injuring her.

He had finally caught up to her when the boulder came loose. She stood and watched him as the rock came tumbled down. But the grin never left his face. He stopped in the path of the boulder, and then stabbed the boulder with the right hand weapon. The rock did not break; it only stopped in its trail and a little bit of dust and pebble came loose.

Joselyn is stunned in place. Her brain is screaming, unable to communicate with her legs.

The rogue child began turning counter clockwise, slow at first, dragging the boulder on the ground. But he quickly picked up momentum and after 3 spins he let loose his crowbar and the boulder heads towards her like a rising meteor.

Suddenly her legs can listen.

Joselyn springs off the pile of rubble and rolls onto the archway.

The boulder explodes against the wall and her sweating body is dusted brown by the blast. The crazed boy leaps to the top of the mound and grabbed his weapon. All of the sudden he was across the arch from her, the grin on his face threatening to cut off his ears. Joselyn noticed the boy's sleeves drooped over his hands; all she could see were the crowbars sticking out of his jacket like crooked metal talons.

She hesitated a moment. _Let him move a little bit closer._ Then she held her free hand open in front of her, six identical snowflakes manifested at her shoulder and spiraled down her arm into her palm forming a glowing white ball. Short lived white trails sparkled across her arm. The ball shot straight into his chest as swift as the boulder; on impact he was engulfed in powdery whiteness. He was frozen instantly, a blue statue with a glassy grin.

She probably should have run, gotten out of the training center to see if he would follow her and break nearly every rule in the book –which he hadn't broken already. But it was too damn tempting to punish him.

Joselyn took an inward step and swung upward sending blood and ice to the ceiling and wall of the training center, landing in messy droplets. A thin stream of blood ran from his chest and fell away with the ice without touching his body. She knew he wasn't dead, but she had cut through a lot of bone and tissue with that proud swing.

_Them's the rules asshole._

If you scare her, she cuts you.

But she had glamorized her triumph for seconds too long. The boy shook off the remaining flakes of ice –still grinning. Breaking out of the ice he planted his foot on her hip and spun her around one hundred and eighty degrees. Losing his balance with her he scratched her back from hip to hip. He felt the muscle under her skin as though he'd torn her with his own fingers. Just as soon as the wound opened her blood came seeping out of her back, soaking the ass of her pants.

Hearing the tearing of that flesh was all he needed to hear to relax, his grin became a serene smile and her shouting fell on deafened ears. They fell together to the floor of the training center where they were found moments later by a pair of familiar faces, unfamiliar to her.

**Failure**

Quistis Trepe was unsurprised to hear Dr Kadowaki's voice in the morning to tell her of her newest students 'incident'. She never liked to admit it about any student but she was uneasy about these two. She should have known they'd get caught up in each other.

But she refused to complain about the boy. Only under the most critical of circumstances would she scold him or allow him to be punished. He was, after all, the reason she had her instructors license once again. When he found out why she'd lost her job he was outraged. He didn't exactly show it on his face but he immediately became part of an argument that everyone thought had died a year earlier.

Somehow he managed to do it. She almost kissed him when he told her the news.

Quistis Trepe had her Instructors license back because of some kid who wanted to be her student, and what a student he was. Always quiet and distant, a little bit too much like Squall for her, but he always knew the answers better than anyone else in his class. He wasn't entirely proud of how he got her license back though. Because it didn't seem to him that he won the argument because of his points and opinions. He said that throughout the whole conversation the headmaster just stared at him. He had never seen him before even though the kid had been there a year, but now he could see him. And it seemed that he needed nothing else to see. He helped make sure that he stayed in the garden when things like the 'incident' happened, but oddly enough he was yet to apologize for staring that day.

What really confused Quistis about the whole thing was that he had only recently been instated as a student, so there was really no way from him to know about Garden protocol or how job openings worked. To this day he wouldn't tell her about it.

Now she was visiting him and the girl he had attacked. She would also be her student soon and she wasn't looking forward to it. When this sort of thing happened between classmates it made things very hard for her. This scenario was uncomfortably familiar; she could only say that she was surprised that the 'Squall figure' was the one who started fights now.

She strolled down the halls to the infirmary in an unfamiliar get-up. Selphie had barged into her room one fine morning and destroyed the battle suit she had always worn. She said that it was a 'favor' and that she'd 'thank her' for it later. Quistis had been deeply aggravated but obviously lost the battle with her clothes remains all over her floor.

She now wore a dark purple vest; black gloves that stopped at her elbows, a shin length black skirt –and a pair of shorts underneath for protection against the young perverts that sometimes crawled on the edges of the bridges like geckos. She still wore tall lace boots and a new belt slanted on her hip. All but the left bang of her hair was pulled back into a long braid and swung evenly as she walked, her glasses resting on the tip of her nose.

The new headmaster had decided that wearing a SeeD or cadet uniform all the time was a pointless nuisance. She thought he just hated polyester, but all the same nobody complained. Now, more and more people dressed casually in garden these days.

Except for the PesticidEs; the latest installment of B-garden. They were somewhat of a ridiculous idea because they existed to guard the SeeDs. Mercenary's that guarded mercenary's. And they were everywhere; each SeeD squad came with at least one for missions, one guarded the entrance of each section of garden, two for the headmaster's office, various others were scattered aboard all of the decks amongst the flying academy, and about ten or so guarded the entrance. But there were so many more residing in the B1 level of the garden waiting for orders.

PesticidEs shared the same requirements as SeeDs. But they were bodyguards and nothing more,

SeeDs safety mattered so much to their positions that they had to save them even if it compromised a mission. Or a civilians life, another PesticidEs, even ones own life. Their identities were completely secret, which was the only requirement besides working without GF's that separated them from the students. No one could know the identity of a PesticidE except for other PesticidEs and Xu.

Xu was in charge of hiring and training the PesticidEs. Not even the headmaster knew the identity of any of them and he wanted it that way. He didn't want his judgment or anybody else's to keep him from hiring a perfectly good body guard. When they were first introduced to Garden the worry was they would be criminals and would cause trouble inside the garden. Even after two years this was still an issue, although no such problems had arised.

They dressed the same. An altered version of men's SeeD uniforms of old, from the days of the Second sorceress war. For the men the jacket was now a trench coat; it came with black gloves, and a two piece helmet/mask, the whole headpiece was black. Bug-eye shaped goggles, black rubber sheet over the neck and the back of the head, the top of the helmet curved from the head outward ninety degrees and made a circle with a flat top, and a mouth piece that transformed their voice to a nondescript, drone sound that gave no indication of gender. Each one identical besides their gender, size, build, codename, and their weapon, as far as anyone but them and Xu were concerned. Regrettably, Quistis was not privileged to know any of those secret identities even though she was Xu's dear friend.

She made it to the infirmary and was greeted by a very cheerful Dr. Heartilly. Rinoa had been Dr Kadowakis assistant for more than a year. Because of Squall she had been living at garden, but did nothing. She didn't particularly fit many other positions and desperately needed one, if not just to end her boredom, to have a good excuse for Selphie when approached about the Garden festival. But working in the infirmary was perfect, which had been a great relief to Dr. Kadowaki. Though she was stubborn about not working, the years –the job more so—had begun to wear on her, and Rinoas help had been surprisingly welcomed.

"How are they?" Quistis asked.

Rinoa smiled before she spoke and Quistis already knew her students were going to be healthy soon. "Fantastic, they'll both be fine."

"What are their current conditions?"

The doctor checked the notes in her hand and tapped the clipboard with her pencil thoughtfully.

"Joselyn's skin repair was nearly unsuccessful. The scratch will leave 2 horizontal, scars on her lower back..."

"And what about the other one?" Quistis asked smiling. Though her smile was painful, she knew Rinoa's brain must be hurting even more.

The doctor put her clipboard on the desk squinting hard. She began rubbing her temples mercilessly as though she wanted to bore through her skull to literally massage her brain.

"I've forgotten the boy's name," said Rinoa.

Quistis sighed raw exasperation and rolled her eyes at the doctor.

"I keep telling you to ask him yourself! You'll remember it better that way." She knew Rinoa wouldn't actually do it but she loved telling her too. Being a teacher had taught her to enjoy it when someone refuses to listen to you.

Rinoa, having mercy on her own skull, picked up the clipboard. "In any event, he has a scar too. Beginning at his right hip bone and ending at his left shoulder."

"Why do they both have such terrible scars?" Normally, white magic makes healing scar tissue doable.

"The interns did the work on them. They cleaned them too roughly and poured potions directly on the wounds." _Damned interns, who needs them?_

Quistis sighed, this sort of thing happened far too often. "When will they learn that potions are meant for drinking?" she asked both herself and Rinoa.

"Really, I don't know why I bother telling them anymore." she said smiling her 'Rinoa smile'

Quistis held her hand to her face amused.

"Ditto. Can I see my students?"

"Yes you can. They're both next to you, she's in the left and he's in the right," Just before she opened the first curtain Rinoa said, "oh, and Quistis?"

"What?" she asked turning around, her feet firmly facing the curtains.

"What does this remind you of?" she said with a smile, regarding the familiar situation. Quistis smiled with her.

"It's all I can think about," said Quistis.

For a second Rinoa looked like her smile was falling, but it stayed up. She sat down and turned back to her paper work.

Quistis opened the left curtain and saw her future student asleep on her belly. Hair still braided and slung over one side of her pillow. Her damaged jacket and tank top hung on the chair beside the infirmary bed –they hadn't removed her bra, known perverts were kept away from infirmary internships. Her lower back was blanketed in gauze. She was sleeping more peacefully than people with back wounds usually did. They would often roll over onto the wound and wake up screaming then fall off the bed.

That thought made Quistis remember when Zell turned his back in the training room that fateful day when Netta -The library girl- muttered something over the com to him about Hyne knew what, he turned around and received a savage beating from numerous grats. Quistis smiled thinking of Zell and went inside.

She closed the curtain and peered into the next stall which she actually stepped into. He was on his back sleeping just as well as Joselyn was. His chest wound was no longer protected by a bandage but was exposed to the air. He had argued about wearing a shirt because it made the scar itch. His damaged shirt was already in the waste basket and his black jacket was draped over the chair. She took her seat beside his bed and shook him awake firmly. He blinked a number of times and pushed himself up. He scratched his head a little before turning his weary head to his instructor. He looked as though he either didn't recognize her or wasn't thrilled to see her.

"Say your name for me." Quistis said in good humor she knew he wouldn't appreciate.

He paused, not wanting to humor her, then decided too anyway. "...Grave..."

"Normally people who receive head wounds are asked that but I thought it would be fun to ask you anyway," she said with a smile she knew wouldn't please him.

"...yes..."

"You lost a lot of blood," she said losing her smile

"...yes?..."

"What did I say about attacking other students?" she said raising her eyebrows

"The same thing you said about being monosyllabic?"

Quistis squinted at him for that. It was true but not the answer she wanted. Quistis whirled her fingers as though saying, 'move on.'

"Too much threatening behavior; depending on degree will either earn you detention, rob you of a future SeeD position, or have you expelled entirely," he quoted her flawlessly as if he were an instructor himself.

In the end he would always humor her, she knew.

"And what did you do to that poor girl in the next bed?" she said gesturing to the curtained stall behind her.

Grave looked over her head at the curtain. If Quistis didn't know any better she'd think he was seeing through the curtain, watching his victim sleep. "I admit that I attacked her, but she's far from poor. She'll make a damn good student."

"I suppose so," Quistis rests her chin in her palm, getting closer to him, "she made it out alive with you after all."

"Ya huh," he said lying back down, unaffected by her compliment.

"Ya huh," she said, imitating his indifferent tone of voice.

They were silent briefly, it was comfortable, but he broke it anyway. "So you say I lost a lot of blood?"

"You certainly did," she said nodding even though he wasn't looking.

Grave turned his head sinking half of it into the pillow, watched her with one eye. "Please tell me I got yours," he was being very serious, he wouldn't want anyone's blood but hers.

"I'm flattered that you would prefer mine but our blood types are different."

"Pity"

"Your blood donor will arrive soon to help you to your room."

"Why won't you be doing that?"

"I'm expected elsewhere very soon, I don't have time."

"Double pity."

Quistis's laugh sounded like a hiccup, she almost shut up completely but there was more to tell. "I just wanted to tell you to take it easy and to stop at least attacking 'her'"

"...mm?..." he murmured as if asking why.

"She's your new class mate," she prepared herself for an outrage knowing it wouldn't come. Just in case.

Grave turned over again and closed his eyes. "I see... well, I hope she isn't a bitch"

"Ya huh," she was mocking him again, with that smile, even though he wasn't looking anymore.

"I suppose I'll see you later Instructor." He looked like he was sleeping then. She wondered what he looks like when he's really sleeping.

"Tomorrow Grave." She got up and left without making him salute.

Behind the closed infirmary door he heard Quistis gesturing a familiar voice, and he feared the worst.

**Suggestible Blood**

Joselyn awoke instantly when she heard her donor say, "Howdy Quistis!" from the infirmary hallway, and was suddenly aware of dampness on her butt. Between those things she was decidedly in trouble.

Joselyn reasoned that she probably lost a lot of blood from her encounter and that struck a chord in her chest. Even though she would always be passed off as superstitious Joselyn held a firm belief that if you shared blood with someone you became more like them. And it seemed that her beliefs were true. She already felt different; the base of her bangs seemed like they were pointing upward a millimeter or two, the tip no longer touching her lip. She thought her bones and flesh were contracting. But worst of all she seemed to be overcome by a bizarre craving for... hot dogs.

Zell Dincht entered the curtain quietly, as if to make an etiquette recovery from his shriek. He wore turquoise cover-alls over a black T-shirt, and had an oil slick on his right cheek. He gave her his flashy smirk when she sat up in the bed, then looked at a note in his hand.

"You, Joselyn Abgestossen?" his eyes straying from the note when he finished his question, he looked uncertain.

"Yes." She said a little amused, but not charmed.

Zell was relieved; he had been looking at the print of her last name for a half hour trying to figure out how it was pronounced. But he hoped anyway she would ignore it because of how thoughtlessly he donated for her. He was at the entrance of the training center with Selphie when they found them. It wasn't a thought out decision, it wouldn't have mattered who gave the blood to whom because they were all coincidentally B positive. They just gave to who they carried, and Zell was carrying Joselyn. Zell sat down in the chair next to Joselyn's bed.

"You must be my donor, what's your name?" she gave him a false-polite smile and reached for a handshake.

"You're right, Zell Dincht is the name," he said taking her hand, never losing the smirk.

Joselyn recognized him at once: not really wanting to talk to him, thinking she could get him to do all the talking said, "You're one of the heroes right?"

Zell's eyes brightened, that shine that mistakes politeness for admiration. "Yeah! Best one if you ask me, ya know"

"What about the leader?" she said raising the eyebrow that Zell couldn't see.

"Aw," Zell gave a dismissing wave, "he made the plans and did boring stuff, but I was all the action!" Zell began punching the air.

"Uh huh." she watched unimpressed as Zell punched at something only he could see. She looked intently at his tattoo, wondering if one like it would grow on her face. Joselyn decided she needed evidence for her blood theory and spoke again. "How tall are you?" he looked up, curious, fists still poised in the air

"...I'm 5'5, why?"

"And how does your hair stand up?" she asked as if she was confirming something.

"Um, it just does that," he took a moment to push down his bangs, only for them to spring up again like toothbrush bristles. "Why are you asking me this?"

"...Do you like hot dogs?" she asked very hesitantly.

_**EG**_

Outside the curtains, and accidentally eavesdropping Rinoa thought, _that is not the safest thing to ask Zell._

_**EG**_

Suddenly Zell forgot about her other questions and grasped her wrist, his smile threatening to stretch adjacent to his cheeks like the predator from earlier.

"Let's go to the cafeteria!" he said yanking her out of the bed and onto her feet, then froze in worry when she winced and held her back, "oh shit I'm sorry!"

"It's all right," she assured him scratching her back vigorously, "it just itches a lot."

"Oh," he said recovering his joyous complexion, "good," he stood, wondering why she wasn't leaving.

"Just let me get dressed, I'll be out in a minute," she looked away from him, crossing her arms over her cleavage, the signal that she shouldn't have to ask -after they left she would realize that her gesture was ridiculous since he couldn't effectively look 'down' on her breasts, however valid her point may have remained.

Oh, yeah of course!" he rubbed the back of his head embarrassed, exited through the curtain.

"Can I take these bandages off now miss…?"

"Heartily dear, yes you can, give them to me in fact. And you can call me Rinoa if you like"

"Okay"

Joselyn peeled the bandages off of her back and slipped on her ripped jacket and shirt. She would sew them up tonight, but until then it would be nice to have an opening where she could scratch her itching scars.

Zell didn't have trouble getting hot dogs anymore. After the second sorceress war most of the other students had lost their liking for them. Zell however favored them more and more as people abandoned the suggestive lunch. So now he felt more generous with them than he once had been.

Joselyn was just afraid she would like them; it would further prove her theory of blood sharing. They were just about to leave when the door slid open and a small bluish blur crashed into Zell. They had nearly knocked over a table of Hi-potions Dr. Kadowaki had brewed, and had Rinoa sweating. She tossed the bandages over the small one to Rinoa who threw them away then wiped her forehead with her sleeve. She stood up to secure the bottles on the table.

Joselyn noticed her weapon was no where in sight. At the same time Selphie Tilmitt sat up and shook her head when she saw she was sitting on Zell's crotch. She literally jumped off him then helped him up.

"Sorry Zell." She said, though the apology was more for her than for Zell.

"It's okay Selphie, what're you here for anyway?"

"Visiting the kid I carried" She said, figuratively sparkling.

"Oh yeah, him, Speaking of which this is Joselyn." Zell gestured to Joselyn, who was just as thrilled to meet Selphie as she was her own donor.

"Pleased to meet you I'm Selphie Tilmitt!" She said offering her hand to Joselyn.

"Joselyn Abgestossen," she said expertly, _how the hell did 'she' carry 'him'?_ Selphie tilted her head to one side without her smile.

"How do you pronounce that again?" she asked timidly.

"Ab-ges-toe-sun," she repeated slowly. Very, slowly.

"Ab-ges-toe-sun, I get it!" Selphie was smiling again and began hopping up and down exacerbating the handshake for Joselyn.

"Ya huh," she broke the hand shake and rubbed her arm. "You mean that kid who attacked me?" Selphie and Zell gave her a look.

"Ah, so that's what happened. He'll be apologizing then, expect it today." Joselyn looked to the doctor confused.

"Aren't you going to listen to his side of the story?" Joselyn asked. She wasn't happy about what happened; in fact she wanted him punished again for hacking her up. But she thought the authorities around here would be forced to consider everyone's position however obvious the incident.

"That boy doesn't deny anything. Unless if you're lying he'll say otherwise. He may be troubled but he's an honest kid," she said scribbling on her clipboard, not looking at Joselyn.

"I see." Joselyn said rubbing her arm.

"Let's go Jo'." he grabbed her damaged arm.

"Please, say Joselyn. I don't like nick names"

"Oh, sorry Joselyn"

They left the infirmary and Selphie slipped into Graves stall quietly; like a snooping sister, or a sneaking harlot.

_**EG**_

It's been ages since I've felt ashamed. Had I not attacked this Joselyn girl she would not be poisoned by Zell Dintch's Blood. Now, I wonder, is it his blood that is responsible for his annoying nature? Perhaps.

Though I feel a tinge of shame for befalling the red curse to her I am not better off by much. If what I heard outside is true then I have plenty to worry about myself.

It is not often I pick fights with other students. Normally when I'm in the training center something comes over me and I wreak havoc for a while. I forget about consequences and just let my body attack anything that moves, or breaths, or bleeds.

Especially if it bleeds

This new girl was no exception this morning –if it was indeed this morning, I don't know how long I've been in the infirmary—no different from the dinosaurs or the walking plants.

I run my fingertips over the scar on my chest, softly for a moment but then firmly. I know very well I am not supposed to scratch it but that won't stop me –or slow me down. As soon as it turns bright red a small hand touches mine and removes from my chest.

"Ya know it's not good to scratch at it," she says sitting down

I feel like she just walked in on me masturbating, but instead of covering myself I freeze.

Selphie Tilmitts blood is keeping me alive... Selphie... Tilmitts… Blood, please Hyne, say you're lying to me, say that I'm in a coma and I'm just saturated with morphine.

She's such a small woman. The pervert reptile in me thinks she'd be easily overcome; that in the face of someone deadlier it wouldn't take much to spread her legs and make her start bucking. If she wasn't taken and if I weren't so annoyed by her air-headed nature I'd be trying just that. I almost want to do it anyway now that she's touching my bare skin.

I take control of myself –glad she can't see into me—and remove her hand from mine, slide to the side of the bed to face her. Before she speaks I notice my shoes aren't in sight.

"So how are you…?" She squints and gestures me to repeat my name for her. I pretend not to notice and scan the room for my shoes.

"Hey!" she yelps waving her hand in front of my eyes.

"What?" It's so difficult to be fake; I don't know how she does it all the time.

"I've forgotten your name." She says again, Hyne why can I only attract the attention from people I don't want?

"...Grave…" she makes a face. They always do.

"That's a weird name," she's tactless; I'd like that about her if she wasn't such a fucking pixie.

"It's a nick name." This is what I usually say. I've got a million answers but this is the easiest one.

"Oh... why is that your nickname?"

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, hold it in. If I had a dollar for every time somebody said ANYTHING about my name I could afford enough food coloring to permanently turn the ocean the color of dark urine.

"My peers say I make early graves, it just sounds appropriate to them."

"Oh... So," she's trying to change the subject, does she actually want to talk to me? Why? "Do you know the girl? She seemed troubled."

"Probably because she's sharing blood with Zell Dintch."

She giggles like a child, "I'm sure it's not that. If it was me, I'd be disappointed that one of the first persons I met at a new school attacked me without saying a word," she's trying to make me feel empathetic for Joselyn. I do, but for an entirely different reason. The blood of a PesticidE, that would be an honor, in fact I know just the one…

"...I'd sooner bet that it's Zell."

"You're hopeless," she rolls her eyes and lay back in her seat.

"I think I'm fine now. I'm going to locate my shoes and get the hell out of here."

"Well don't even think about going into the training center because you're banned from it for the next 2 weeks."

"What?" I'm not as surprised about the banning as I am that I'm being told now. Why didn't Quistis tell me that?

Selphie is loving this too much. She probably wants people to get in trouble; otherwise she wouldn't get to scold anybody. "You heard me. No more training center for you until you wait for two weeks_and_ you have to make a written apology for her. If you fail to get her the written apology after the two week mark your restriction from the training center will be extended until you do so." she leaned back in her chair; grinned professionally, and crossed her arms and legs, proud of her Quistis impression.

"I'll just apologize in person... shit, two weeks away from the training center, is someone going to monitor me?"

"Don't know!" she shoots her arms into the air and regains her child-like composure, "Besides, two weeks away from the training center isn't bad," she leans in the chair and puts her hand on my knee. "Besides, you do terrible things in there," she's touching me again; I need to think of something to say that'll keep her from doing that.

"Would you rather I tear people up in the library?" she's taken her hand away, bingo.

"The headmaster's gonna hear about that one," she gives a single nod in a matter-of-fact way like a five year old would when it tells an older sibling that s/he is going to tattle.

Groaning, I say, "Fine, do you know where my shoes are?"

Selphie then reaches under the chair and recovers my shoes. I put them on then stand up, then I lean to Selphie and reach behind her gingerly. For a moment she thinks I'm trying to be intimate, I can feel her countenance recoil. Our faces are close enough to kiss but that's only the 3rd or 4th thing on my mind right now.

I swipe my jacket out from behind her and zip it up. I'll usually wear it open but my shirts torn and bloodied in a biohazard bag now. The lining feels good anyway.

Just as I'm about to leave Selphie looks at her watch and once she scrunches her nose I know she's going to ask me for something. "Ya think you could help me to my room? You kinda needed a lot of blood…" I stop in my tracks. I don't want to help her, but… but Quistis would get pissed if I didn't.

Damnit.

Friendship isn't all privileges and pardons I guess.

I take Selphie by the arm and she takes the lead into the hallway. I see Dr. Heartily smirk at us out of the corner of my eye. She must think that Quistis's compassion is getting to me.

Sometimes I love human stupidity. Like right now, most of my smiles belong on the inside.

Normally I don't do this because I'm the last person whose help is desired in this academy, but she asked me, and I feel obligated to help her because she donated something to me that she obviously has very little of to begin with. Also, there is always Quistis to think about.

As we walk out of the infirmary I wonder why she seemed so energetic a minute ago, and is suddenly very weak.

_**EG**_

Irvine Kinneas was locked in arms with a pair of ditzy cadets, eying each one in turn. The line of his usual smug grin etched across his face seemed to stretch beyond his lips.

"I do enjoy the company of you fine ladies but I must get to the infirmary, I am expected there," said Irvine, his southern dialect thick and creamy like caramel.

The first ditz protests, "But Irvy!" but to no avail. Even Hearing Selphie's nickname for him can't sway his hormones.

"No 'buts' ladies, I have someone to carry."

They reluctantly broke away from him and pouted like junior class-men. They spoke their good-byes to him which he didn't hear and he hurried to the infirmary as fast as his run could get him there.

_**EG**_

Selphie and I stumble out of the infirmary, we stumble because she insists on walking beside me with her arm slung over my shoulder even though I have offered to carry her –this would be much easier if only she'd let me carry her. We have all but taken five clumsy steps together when we spot Irvine Kinneas. He's being stalked by numerous dilettante cadets and seems to be in no hurry to fend them off. He's giving them looks and accepting their interlocking arms. His lips can't seem to contain his whole smile.

I catch Selphie's look beside me. She sneers at Irvine longingly, wanting to scratch his eyes out but wanting him to just stop his mock-pimping at the same time. There is no doubt in my mind what is about to happen. He'll break away from the girls, rush to Selphie happily, ignore her obvious desperateness and he'll carry her to their dorm. She'll give him her fake smile and trust him to carry her. Maybe he'll pressure her into sex, or maybe he'll just drop her on the bed and leave her to regenerate some of her blood, so she can rest, let the fucking come later –the fucking with _her_**,** rather.

"Hey darlin'!" he yells breaking away from his group and jogging to the infirmary entrance, stupid grin still in place.

Step 1 down.

"Hi Irvy," she says with her sad smirk. He must be cruel or stupid not to notice the sadness there.

Let it be known that I feel for neither of them. I recognize her sadness, I recognize his cruelty/stupidity. I certainly wouldn't do anything about either of their troubles.

"So like... I can take over from here kid," he says gesturing to Selphie.

"He has a name ya' know," she says as I hand her to the taller man.

Step 2 down.

"And what is your name, who helps my dear Selphie?" he tips up his hat to me, showing me respect or something.

"Grave."

"That's a strange name"

"Irvy!" she smacks his chest playfully and almost earns a smirk from me. Almost.

"It's a nickname," I say, ignoring Selphie.

"Why's that?" he says, also ignoring Selphie.

"My peers think I like Graveyards, they just think it's appropriate." I glance at Selphie, she isn't listening to either of us.

"Huh," he scratches the back of his head with his free hand, "well thank you for helpin' my Selphie."

"Certainly." My politeness is carefully faked. He smiles and salutes in response to my courtesy, but I can tell I'm the last guy he wants to talk too now. He'll sooner suck down a hot dog with Zell.

I give a half-hearted salute in return and they're on their way to the dorm. I catch a glimpse of Selphie's face before Irvine turns around completely. Maybe it isn't a fake smile but a tired one, anxiety from giving so much of her blood to me. I think, just for a moment that I shouldn't be so biased of Irvine; it must just be my natural dislike for people dressed as cowboys that harbors my harsh judgment of him. However I can't ignore Selphie's pleading frown.

"Whatever." What am I saying? Of course I can.

**Phallophobia**

Joselyn looked at her hot dog like it was a research specimen –not noticing Zell chomp down his third. She found nothing attractive about the food in front of her and had little desire to touch it much less look at it. In fact, she was sort of afraid it would eat her if she didn't eat it quick. She could see it now, teeth like cat's claws emerging from an opening in the skin, and a spongy, snake-like tongue dripping with salty juices as saliva would.

"You gonna eat that?" Zell asks torn between eagerness and generosity.

"I don't know." _Maybe if I see a certain pair of tools at my pulse. Maybe._

"Have you ever had one before?" he asks as though he shouldn't have too.

"Uh, uh," she said shaking her head once.

"You should at least try a bite of it."

Joselyn pulled the hot dog out of its bun by one end and continued staring at it. The ends had split open revealing the glistening meat inside. It looked like pink Styrofoam soaked in salty juices. She carefully took a bite out of the end and instantly dropped the hot dog back into its bun. She had sucked on the soft meat a bit after it was in her mouth and was surprised when so much of the salty juice slid down her throat. The meat itself was like countless swollen grains of meat. How the man in front of her could eat so many was beyond her. Perhaps it was because he didn't chew. No time to ponder things like that, she needed to get the hell away from this guy to dry her clothes, her butt was itching badly, she needed to change her pants.

"I don't think I can eat any more of that."

"Really, are you sure? You barely ate any of It." he said looking startled, at the same time reaching across the table for the pickled member.

"Yeah, it's all yours." She said pushing the plate towards him.

"Fine by me."

Zell swallowed the remains of his third hot dog with one hand and grabbed Joselyn's with the other. He sucked the juice out of the end she had bitten from before swallowing the rest in a single, impossible-looking gulp. Joselyn cringed, sat up taking her cue to escape.

"Wait!" he said muffled by the hot dog.

"Yes?" she turned around, her feet still facing the exit.

Zell took one last gulp and said, "my break is almost over, ya' want to see some stuff in the hangar?"

"Hangar?"

"Yeah, we're building some cool stuff in there, I thought I'd let you take a look ya know."

"What kind of stuff?" she said fully turning around.

"Guns and jets, remember the jet you were picked up from T-Garden in?"

"Yeah I remember. I think that I'd like to see that." she said smiling, shining with cellophane enthusiasm. _Shit, I've been caught. So close too._

"All right let's go!"

_**EG**_

Shield had been assigned to guard the library again. He always got the library for some reason. He wagered that if their posts were decided by drawing numbers from a hat he'd still be assigned to the library somehow, like it was some cosmic joke just for him. He had yet to see any action as a PesticidE but he had hopes. The headmaster couldn't keep B-Garden an island forever. More and more radio transmissions demanding their SeeDs were coming in and they would have to move to land again sometime.

But for now he was stuck keeping kids out of the library that had been suspended of their privileges. And here came one now.

Grave was an unusual boy, not just because of his appearance. He was apparently a fantastic student and an incredible fighter –and had a smart mouth for the few friends he had. But without those friends he just looked unimpressed, he was a ghoul with the living brain of a man surrounded by standards of the human species.

He was carrying a bag of books and almost passed Shield unsuspecting of him.

_**EG**_

I think that it's sort of amusing that the PesticidE's have nicknames. They all have the same protective quality, but at the same time they go about it differently. The PesticidE code is strict so it leaves very little room for individuality. But enough of it comes through so they can differentiate themselves from one another. Their nicknames are usually something lame like 'Protector' or 'Granite' and once in a while, there comes somebody like the girl who dares call herself 'Carbuncle' –not to say she doesn't live up to it.

Before me stands Shield, the man who is apparently destined to stand before the library entrance until his bones crack and his skin flakes away. Sometimes I feel sorry for him, but I always forget about it quickly.

Before I can go any further than the entrance he stands in my way.

"What?"

"You've been suspended from the library," he says with the voice of a beehive.

I whisper Selphie's last name quietly, too quietly for him to hear.

"What's that?" He asks. Through the droning it's difficult to tell if he wants to sound authoritative.

"Nothing... how long?"

"It'll be half the time they said your training center suspension would be."

"A week then"

Shield nods, trusting that I'm right. Also, he's probably imagining it will still be him standing right here a week from now. "Sorry that I have to do this to you."

"It's not your fault. Do you think that you could take these in for me?" I try to hand the bag to him but he doesn't move a muscle.

"Can't leave my post Grave, you know that."

"...Right."

This is my worst pet peeve. Refusal to help someone when you know you can help, saying that you can't help and giving a half-ass excuse in the same sentence. Sometimes they sound like they're trying to sound parental, like they're trying to teach me a lesson without telling me just want they want me to learn.

Just as I'm about to give up and go to my room and save myself from further embarrassment I see a glimmer of hope. A female cadet walks past me and into the library.

"Excuse me."

No answer. No surprise. A male cadet exits the library, and ignores me completely, the same way the girl did.

This is normal. Whenever I need help like this I tend to get the same treatment panhandlers get.

"Do you think you could…?"

The cadet leaves without a word. You'd think that after three years of this shit I wouldn't care anymore.

That's what you'd think isn't it?

"Fuck, I guess I'll have week-late books then."

"Sorry again."

"Don't be." I say, and I mean it. He shouldn't be sorry if he doesn't mean to help me anyway.

I'm go back to my dorm, I guess I'll just have to get Cody to help me out.

_**Squall sat in the corner of the Timber bar, sipping a Krakka and watched the back door. He remembered clearly his mission in Timber. The drunken man sitting against the alley door was still there, shrieking the same words he had back then. He took another sip but stalled when his eyes drifted across something that hadn't happened back then.**_

_**Quistis sat in Seifers lap at one of the tables on the right side of the bar. They were sliding their lips across one another, giggling affectionately, drunker than the man at the exit. Seifer was sliding Quistis' zipper down between her breasts while Quistis' arms were inside his trench coat fumbling to remove his vest.**_

_**Squalls attention turned the entrance and he saw himself, Selphie and Zell entering the bar. **_

_**He watched himself ignore the impossible scene and discuss things with the drunk. The drunk complied like he had those years ago and allowed himself to be dragged away. Zell kept a watchful eye around the bar and froze when he saw what he had seen. Seifer opened his eyes and froze as well when he saw Zell watching him. Quistis looked displeased and shook Seifer to return his attention to her; she followed his eyes and nearly fell off of his lap when she saw Zell. **_

_**Squall watched himself head out the door when Zell grabbed him by the shoulder without averting his gaze.**_

"_**Zell what's wrong? Let's go" Squall looked at Zell's source of fright. He took a moment to compose himself then took Zell's hand off of his shoulder, "Zell, let's pretend we didn't see this." Zell nodded, all six eyes remained on the bizarre scene before them. "We will go watch president Deling begin his announcement, Seifer will interrupt it like he's supposed to, Quistis will order us to come help and everything will make sense, all right?" Zell nodded once again. "Let's go."**_

Squall shook himself awake then stopped as though stung, clutched the side of his neck with one hand. He had laid his head on a stack of IN papers and fell asleep.

"Fuck."

His office was behind the elevator that led to the cockpit of the still mobile garden. His mahogany desk filled the remaining space, and was surrounded with dying plants that no one took the responsibility to water.

He got out of his seat and went to the window. Oh what he would give to jump out that window and suck in one last fresh breath of air. Anything to get him out of the office, anything, he would take any excuse, an excuse to burn his paperwork and throw out the doomed foliage decorating his not-so-secluded office.

He hadn't been doing serious work before he fell asleep, he wasn't worried about the work that he was currently doing. Everyone was pressuring him to work on their conflict with Galbadia –which actually was important. That was something he wanted never to do.

Galbadia had chosen to become B-Gardens devoted enemy since the Second sorceress war out of spite –they claimed to the citizens that SeeD had become a terrorist faction. They recruited more soldiers, rebuilt Galbadia garden and made it their mobile base once again. So Squall had B-Garden gather all the supplies they could hold and he led it far to the north of the Esthar continent.

Sadly they had heard no objections from Rinoas father. The only times they made contact he insisted that she come home so she would not be caught in any conflict. But she stayed, assuming that if she did they would not have to worry about an attack.

Ever since that happened Squall had been receiving complaints and demands from everyone on the garden to make another move, they waited for his order to take action and it never came. Field exams had been taken by way of the Ragnarok and 'Whelps', which had been built by their mechanics ever since the end of the Sorceress war.

Part of Squall wanted to just attack. They could find their way back into Galbadias radar/sonar and they would just destroy them. But he didn't think they were ready yet. He wanted more SeeDs and PesticidEs, he wanted more power, and he wanted to actually destroy the G-Garden this time.

And we wanted to do it without his fathers help.

He un-rolled the sleeves of his white dress shirt and smacked his head against the glass. When he felt a sudden weight on his shoulders he raised a bare hand to his collar and brushed his fingers against the feathery fur of his coat. He smirked and put his arms through the sleeves, rolling his white sleeves up again as his arms traveled through his coat.

"What are you doing Rinoa?"

"I like it when my lion wears his mane," she whispered up to him and slid her arms around his waist from behind.

"Tch."

Then, simultaneously, they said, "whatever." Synchronized apathy was something they'd picked up a couple years ago together. When in a relationship with Squall Leonhart you don't cure him of his indifference, you just become one with it so you can make peace with his fundamental nature.

Squall turned around and lifted her up by her armpits and plopped her onto his desk, on top of the IN pile so she was at eye level with him.

"My shift is over." She touches his bare-shaven neck with her fingertips.

"My shift is never over."

"You poor, poor guy, sit down."

Squall tilted his head and squinted at her unsure, but complied. Rinoa slid off the table to the floor on her knees in front of Squalls chair, spilling papers all over them and pulled the chair closer, she crawled back and pulled his chair with her until she was under his desk. She whipped out his belt in three mechanical motions then slipped off the button and started to pull down the zipper of his black dress pants, one tooth at a time.

Click.

She winked at him with her left eye.

Click.

She licked her lower lip with the tip of her tongue.

Click.

She placed her chin on his inner thigh and pulled the zipper all the way down.

_**L**_

She slid his pants and boxers off together and delicately held his penis with her finger tips. Exhaled through her nostrils to tease it. She closed her eyes and slid her lips over the head and licked it thoroughly inside her mouth. Squall tilts his actual head back as he swells inside her mouth, his abdomen ripples as he groans at the ceiling.

It wasn't often Rinoa did this for Squall –fucking in the office that is—he thought that was her way of keeping him grateful for it, else he start taking it for granted. And he was grateful; once she was finished he sighed and allowed the tingling sensation spread throughout his body and grant him that one blessed second of numbness.

It was little gestures of love like this that kept Squall from losing his mind and driving the garden into a glacier.

Squall gathered all of her hair and set it behind her ears and smiled a lover's thank-you to her. She took a big gulp and licked her lips. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and licked them again.

_**L**_

"Headmaster Squall!" Said a loud droning voice from the around the elevator.

Rinoa jumps at the shriek and bumps her head under Squalls desk. Squall whispered apologetically and raised his head for the female PesticidE. Like the men they wore the old male SeeD uniforms but the women chose the original jacket over the trench coat. Instead of the circular helmet they wore a black beret. She approached Squalls desk and waited for him to speak.

"Who may I say is addressing me?" he said as he patted Rinoa's head under the table. He could tell she was trying not to whimper.

"PesticidE Carbuncle sir!" she saluted briskly, clearly too happy to be on the job than Squall considers healthy.

"What business do you have?"

"It's a matter of the upcoming field exam sir."

"What about it?"

"I want to request that I be placed in one of the squads. I have never graced a field exam sir, and I think that I am ready."

SQUALL "All right, I see nothing wrong with that. You can expect to be guarding a squad in the next field exam then. I draw up the paperwork this afternoon."

"Thank you head master," she bowed –an unusual courtesy-"I am grateful."

"There is no need to be grateful," he said, waving her away and shaking his head.

Carbuncle saluted Squall and left for the elevator. But stopped a moment and turned around again.

"Sir, if I may ask, is that a new jacket?"

"...No, this is not a new jacket"

"Oh, may I help you with those papers sir?" Carbuncle moved to the desk again

SQUALL "NO!"

BUMP.

A coffee mug filled with pencils spilled off the table and shattered against the floor.

"What was that sir?"

Rinoa, unable to hold in her whimper made the quietest sound she could muster.

"Nothing!" Squall cleared his throat loudly; taking on a 'responsible' persona unbecoming of him, "you are excused"

"Yes sir!" she saluted once again and dashed out of the office.

As soon as he heard the ding of the elevator he frantically pushed his chair back and helped Rinoa to her feet.

"Are you all right?"

"My head hurts..." she rubbed her head carefully and winced when she touched the seeds of her bruise.

"Shit, I'm sorry. What if I got off work early today?" he smiled when Rinoas eyes brightened.

"Really?" she asked as if he said that he'd empty the ocean. It was rare for Squall to find his way out of work.

"I'll think of something. Just expect me at about 6 in our room all right? You go; I'll clean up this mess."

Rinoa smiled at him. She hopped for a moment to give him a peck on the lips and she left his office. She turned around quickly to the see it dawn on him where her lips had just been. She nearly split her cheeks smiling and hurried to the elevator.

**Apologize**

_Damnit where did that oaf put the box cutter?_

Fujin Saeta was throwing miscellaneous items from the junk drawer of her kitchen onto the floor. She slammed the empty drawer shut and carelessly stepped on a plastic box filled with screws and nails. She stepped on them and they made a crunching sound.

_Shit._

She knelt down and thrust her hands into the pile.

_Shit, shit, shit._

She scooped the pile up with her hands and threw it into the trash can. She opened the drawer again, started picking up unbroken things floor and threw everything into it, nearly closing the drawer with each__throw_**. **_She shut the drawer and sat down on the counter, trying to remember where her lost tool was.

Fujin's hair had grown past her shoulders and was past its due time to be cut. She had long ago discarded her eye patch. Her eye had healed as much as it would and she no longer needed it. Now her left iris was a faint pink to the red one next to it, and a web of veins lay just below the surface of her eye. It was faint and you could only see it if you were close to her face.

The door opened loudly and the steps of larger clumsy feet were ruffling against the soft floor, her victim had arrived.

"RAIJIN!"

"Ah!" Raijin spun around having just about jumped out of his skin. Fujin might have been an intruder for all his shock.

Fujin marched out of the kitchen and shoved Raijin onto the couch with her fingertips.

"Where did you put the box cutter?"

"On the TV!" he said bewildered to his friend.

"Why the hell is it on the television?"

"That's just where I left it!"

"What am I going to do with you?" she said with her arms in the air.

She looked at the TV and sure enough there lies her box cutter. She swiped it away then retreated to the bathroom. She faced the mirror and opened up the box cutter then pulled out the blade. She swiped furiously at the hair beside her jaw and chin when Raijin peaked in.

"You want me to do the back for ya?"

"No thanks I'll be fine."

"Ya might cut yourself in the neck doin' that."

"Yeah I know but I'll be fine."

"Just don't want ya to get hurt."

"Raijin," she stopped for a moment and looked at the sink, "when was the last time I cut myself?"

"..."

"Exactly," she looked back at the mirror and reached behind her head to finish.

"What's wrong Fujin?"

"We can talk about it later, right now I have to get back to my post."

"Alright," he left the bathroom and closed the door.

She finished cutting the hair in the back and stopped. She decided to leave it the way it was so far, it was chin length, and little teeth of hair pointed downward at the ends.

Satisfied, she left the bathroom and met Raijin who was sitting at the table. His face was dirty and he wore a pair of light blue cover all's with his large bead necklace, that ring of distorted grapes that seemed to be glued to his skin.

"Raijin?" she asked being as quiet as she could, her voice accidentally slithery.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about snapping at you, I was just anxious to cut my damn hair"

"It's all right. Ya kept it longer this time," he said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, he always said that he liked it like this."

"He'll like it when he sees us again."

"Raijin, he's gone forever, you know that. Do you know where my stuff is?"

"Yeah, it's all in the closet," he pointed his thumb over his shoulder to the closet door, ignoring what she said.

"Thanks."

She walked to the closet and punched the button next to the door, it slid open into the left wall and she pulled out two black bags hanging from a hanger. She pulled her shuriken and shoulder pad out of one of the bags. She strapped her shoulder pad on and tossed her weapon over Raijin's head and it clanged on the table in front of him.

"SHIT!"

"What?" she said with mock innocence and a smirk adopted from Seifer.

"Ya could've cut my head off!"

"Relax," she turned back to the closet and hung the bag up again.

"Tch, fine."

Fujin closed the door and walked to the table beside Raijin. She put her hand on his head.

"Sorry again," she took her hand off of his head when he looked up.

"Fujin, nobodies like you," he said using a friendlier smile.

"Thanks Raijin" she said with her own forced smile. She picked up her weapon and opened the door, "I'll see you tomorrow," she said, slinging the other black bag over her shoulder.

"Huh?" he glanced at the clock on the table, "oh, guess it's time for your night shift."

"Yeah, I can handle it, don't worry."

"All right, tomorrow then."

"Good night Raijin."

_**EG**_

It was the size of the Ragnaroks head and neck. Turquoise with thin red streaks curling across the sides, it had two rockets in the back and one under the cock-pit facing the same way and had seating for two, and four curled appendages beside the cock-pit and rear rockets. Inside it had seating for four passengers and less than enough head room, but the mechanics were proud none the less.

Joselyn watched Zell work under the machine, cursing blue fire that she feared would ignite the oil and fuel spilling onto him and the floor. She was inches away from making fun of him when a swarthy man beat her to it.

"You're gonna burn yourself down there ya know?"

"SHUT… up, Raijin" Zell threw a wrench down and it bounced loudly in nobody's direction. "I just don't know what's wrong with it; I think one of the parts is missing."

"Well, it's not finished yet, ya think that has somethin' to do with it?"

"...No Raijin, I think the gremlins are stealing and rearranging the parts in the night," he said half-sarcastically –Zell had blamed many things on the gremlins in the past.

"Just like you to blame the gremlins ya know."

"I'm serious about a part being missing though, but it's really deep in there, I'll have to take part of the thing apart to get to it."

Raijin stopped listening to Zell at some point and turned to see Joselyn. She was scratching her back while examining one of the complete machines. She stood now, running her gloved fingertips over the smooth glazed metal.

Raijin took a moment to examine her while she had her back to him. She was a very tall girl, a rarity in Balamb garden. Remarkably long legs with a generous amount of muscle in her thighs. Her jacket and shirt were torn at her lower back showing two long pink scars, wrinkled at the edges. The scars looked like they were pulling healthy skin over the scar tissue to hide from exposure to the air. It took him no longer than a few moments to decide how it got there, since there was only one student who could –or would—do something like that. Seeing the scars confirmed the rumors for him. She was reaching into her jacket when Raijin tapped her shoulder and gave a hand to shake.

"My names Raijin ya know," he said with a sweet smile to rival all sweet smiles.

She returned the smile and turned around to shake his hand.

"And my name's Joselyn."

"Joselyn?" he stopped the shake and his smile fell, she raised the eyebrow he couldn't see and let go of his hand.

"Is something wrong?"

"You the girl Grave attacked right?"

Joselyn sighed and rolled her eyes. _When will this end?_ She wondered.

"Yes, I am. Does everybody know or something? This is nuts!" she threw her arms in the air and leaned against the hanging machine behind her. The jet did not budge against her weight.

"It's a big deal ya know. He's never been so brutal before."

"Huh… I guess that's reason enough." She stood and sighed again, "I'm sorry to snap at you, I don't mean to be mean, I just don't think that it's that big of a deal."

"It's alright ya know. Must be frustrating to hear about it all day."

"You read my mind," she scratched her back again, "so what are these things called?" she pointed her head to the wall of jets.

"Whelps. Just 'cause their like tiny Ragnaroks ya know."

"Uh huh." _I wonder why he says that so much. I shouldn't ask, he'll probably flip out._

"Well, I gotta get to work."

"Okay, I think I'll go actually, it's kinda late."

"Oh, well it was nice meeting you."

"Me too, say bye to Zell for me!" she said running to the exit.

"Alright ya know!"

"RAIJIN!" shouted Zell.

"I'm comin' ya know!" he grabbed a wrench from the table beside him and prepared for the small mans wrath.

_**EG**_

A red ball bounces in the hallway of the dormitory quarters towards me. I'm on my way to my room whilst trying to ignore the ball. But it's bright fire red and so are the children's voices.

Giggling, they're giggling; a pair of junior class-men, a boy and a girl is running my way from the other end of the hall. I stop for a moment and let the ball run into my foot. It rolls up my boot, it rolls down the side. I kick the pesky thing hard behind me and continue walking. The children pass me like I'm not here so they can fail again and again to catch their ball.

Fucking Munchkins, if I could ask Hyne one thing, it would be, "why is my dorm right next to the junior class-men wing?" I can't stand –no, I hate—little kids. Sure; they don't insult and provoke me the way the older students do, they don't hate me because I look like a corpse -though they do look scared often—and they don't ban me from public areas of the Garden.

But they're just as annoying as Instructor Dintch, which more than makes up for everything.

I've almost made it to my dorm and nearly smile at the sight of my room-mate, one of my two friends. Today has not gone well for me.

"Cody!" I shout and I have his attention at once.

Cody is walking out of our dorm with a black suit case when he notices me. He smiles and jogs to me quickly.

Let me take a moment to tell you about Cody. He is the people person of all people persons. He likes everyone and everyone likes him. He's nice and understanding, he laughs at your jokes no matter how rude or callous they are –which makes me grateful that he's my friend—and somehow always has time to help.

He's 5'9 –but he seems to have grown a few inches since the last time I saw him, normally I dwarf him by an inch—with one inch blonde hair, his skull and eyes are perfectly round.

He once settled a dispute between two brutes over a muffin. He lathered the muffin in butter, and fed it to Dr. Heartily's dog. Each of them gave him a black-eye and stormed out. Later they came back to apologize –forced of course—and sincerely congratulated him on the beating he took for their stupid argument, which he accepted readily and happily. I don't know what the deal is; I guess he just has charisma.

He's wearing his cadet uniform now which raises a question. I must be looking at him strangely because he's tilting his head to the side.

"What?"

"I thought only Trepies wore cadet uniforms these days." I say smirking meanly, he returns my smirk effortlessly, guess I should brace myself for a mean retort.

"This is coming from the guy who got her that license back so he could take her classes." Ooh. I was begging on my hands and knees for that one.

"...Touché"

"I'm just trying to get used to this fucking polyester!" he says, ending our sarcasm sparring.

"Heh, right, 'cause we have the field exam in a couple of weeks and those stupid uniforms are mandatory." I am not as brave as Cody. I'm not even going to look at my uniform until I have to wear it for that exam.

"Yeah, at least when we're SeeDs they'll MAKE us wear our own clothes."

"'When'? You're sounding pretty arrogant."

"Damn right. Instructor Trepe told me we're going to be on the squad together."

"Really? Well then I guess you'll have to share some of that arrogance."

"I thought you'd feel that way. Anyway, I'm going to the training center, I'll see you in about twenty minutes." he said starting to leave. Sorry Cody, but I can't let you get away yet.

"Wait!"

"Hmm?" he turned around.

"Could you return these books for me? I've been banned from the library."

"The library, how the hell do you...? no. never mind, tell me when I get back. That way I'll be tired enough to believe whatever it is."

"Will you do it?"

"Yeah sure."

"Thanks."

"No trouble at all."

"You'll probably have to hurry; I think that everything's going to shut down soon."

"Alright, I'll see ya'!" he said dashing away.

"Yeah! See ya'."

Well that deals with the library bullshit. That's another one I owe Cody. Now to deal with some business that's actually important.

_**EG**_

Tucker had been brushing his teeth for ten whole minutes now and the sound of scrubbing was incessant. She couldn't stand to watch him do it, but she imagined gouts of white lather pouring out of his flimsy lips, and bits of food shooting out from between his teeth all over the bathroom like misfired bullets.

_Just phase it out Joselyn, just phase it out Joselyn, just phase it out Joselyn._

But she isn't going to phase this out, she just can't. She's made her disgusting hallucination far too vivid. She'd have an easier time ignoring her furniture having sex with a head full of acid.

_He's going to stop brushing his teeth any time now; you just have to wait it out._

Incessant scrubbing.

_IF he doesn't STOP by the count of three I'll STAB him in the HEART._

More incessant scrubbing. The walls must look like the inside of a maggot infested garbage bag by now.

_1._

Suddenly –she swears she's mistaken, but…-Joselyn hears the sound of something tearing, then an altered voice that might normally be handsome. "Right next to me a huge reptile was gnawing on a woman's neck, the carpet was a blood-soaked sponge –impossible to walk on it, no footing at all. "Order some golf shoes," I whispered. "Otherwise, we'll never get out of this place alive. You notice these lizards don't have any trouble moving around in this muck –that's because they have _claws_ on their feet."

"What the fuck was that?" She whispered to herself, quietly, so Tucker wouldn't ask her what was wrong.

"Fear and Loathing."

Then suddenly a knock on the door.

"SHIT!"

Joselyn was sitting on the edge of her bed, leaning over her blue jacket with a needle and thread. Her spine was stiff and the needle had plunged itself into her thumb as if it were startled by the knock at the door as much as she. The rude knocking continued.

_Fuck._

She threw her unfinished jacket onto her bed and started sucking her thumb. She got up and headed for the door, another knock sounded, this one especially impatient.

"I'm coming!" she muttered incoherently with her thumb still in her mouth.

She literally kicked the button to open the door and it slid open with a hiss like water against a hot pan. There stood the person she least expected to see. She froze, just about shut the door in his face.

Her attacker was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. She didn't get a good look at him that morning in the training center but now he was standing still for her to see. His skin was white, the shadows fell on him greyly. His lips, violet; and his eyes, she had not been mistaken, were ghoulish blue, but she dared not move closer to see the pupils she was so curious about. He was probably two inches shorter then her. His masculinity was only in his vibrations; physically gender would be difficult to judge.

He was dressed exclusively in black leather and denim it seemed; jeans, boots, leather jacket. The leather jacket was about one size too big for him like she thought. Now that she could see his hands she saw biker gloves there, she wondered if this was a fashion statement. His grin had vanished from his face completely. Instead there was a displeased look.

He was not happy to be here.

_Well I'm not happy to see him._

She was waiting for him to make a move for her throat when he raised both eyebrows questioningly. He said nothing though, he was patient, stoic. He knew she would explain in a minute. It was now she realized she was still sucking on her thumb like some dumb kid. She opened her eyes wide and quickly slid it out of her mouth. She wiped it on her still torn tank top, feeling far too exposed.

"Pin-prick! I was just, uh, sewing up the jacket you tore up," his brows fell changing his mood completely. His facial features emoted for him very much she thought –she wondered if it was too much.

"Yeah. That's why I'm here," he was about to continue when Tucker shouted from the bathroom. Again she was assaulted by visions of misfired maggots.

"Who's at the door Joselyn?" he squeaked, trying to sound like her husband.

"No one Tucker!" she yelled to the bathroom. Grave turned his attention to the direction of her shout.

"Is that who I think that is?" he asked clearly disgusted.

"Yes," she said irritably, exhausted.

"Shit, sorry I didn't beat you up more. You might have been able to spend some time away from him."

Something clicked in Joselyn's head when he said that. Part of her knew she was supposed to be offended by that –the idea that he could have beaten her harder was insulting enough. But stronger than the acid she felt companionship in that insult to her roommate, so she laughed instead.

"Nah," she chuckled pleasantly, "he'd probably visit me in the infirmary."

He looked back at her face and spoke again, smiling now. This smile was natural, the right size on his face. Besides his white face and violet lips, it was a normal smile.

The thought was brief; but she thought he might be normal past all of those discolorations.

"Anyway, I'm here to apologize for this morning. I just kinda get that way in the training center," he was looking away now and couldn't observe her smile.

That really was a poor explanation.

_But you've charmed me, so you owe me now._

"Ya know what? I don't care anymore." She held up her hands in mock surrender and smiled for him, a real smile. It wasn't true, but she was impressed he'd come to do this in person like the Dr. said he would, and this was what she'd have to say to keep this pleasant.

Grave looked up at the friendly smile on those lips. When she held out her hand for him to shake it he just looked at it. He looked confused, like he didn't know how to play his part in a handshake.

She creased her brows and waved the hand in front of his eyes. "You okay?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh. Sorry" he took her hand and shook it, still confused.

It was a strong, controlled handshake. Joselyn knew this kid could rip off her arm right now, her trust surrendered.

_He'd make a damn reliable friend, I can tell._

"My name's Joselyn." She said, but it came out friendlier than she wanted it too. Luckily he didn't take her tone the wrong way. He was still stoic and polite.

"...Grave."

"What's that?"

"My name's Grave." He sounded hesitant to repeat himself, like he wanted to run away.

"Really?"

"It's a nickname." He explained, she guessed that people usually need an explanation at this point. That line sounded very practiced, repeated, and worn out.

"Huh. I like it." is all she said. He was pleasantly speechless.

It was then they noticed their hands were still joined. They looked down together, let go together, looked back up at each others faces, he avoided direct eye contact.

_He really doesn't want me to see his eyes too closely does he?_

"Well, I accept your apology."

"Thanks." He said slowly, suspicious she was fucking with him, she could tell.

_Well, I'm not._

Realizing she had to be the one to end the conversation Joselyn squeezed Grave's shoulder and said. "I guess I'll see you later Grave."

"Yeah. Bye" he said bewildered.

"Bye." Joselyn shut the door before Grave even walked away and leaned against it. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes.

"Who was that Joselyn?" he squeaked from the bathroom once again.

"Nobody, Tucker! Just finish brushing your teeth and go to bed," _oh Hyne, well, back to work I guess_.

Some of the bitterness she felt against Grave vanished then –though she had little to begin with, their rumble that morning was more like a violent spar to her than an actual life threatening situation—solely from his remark about Tucker. His apology sounded like the kind that didn't expect a good reaction, but was given regardless because of a personnel quota.

Joselyn was mostly a forgiving person –though she still didn't feel too comfortable with Grave. Besides, she didn't want enemies within B-Garden, especially if the enemy was like him, he who becomes a nutcase in the heat of battle.

Also she was interested by him. Not just because of his disconcerting appearance but his behavior. He had dared to apologize unarmed and in person after what he had done that morning –she was relieved to find her weapon delivered to her room when she returned earlier—he was composed and polite when he spoke and acted in a conversation. Then he had this insanity he let loose in combat. And his feat with the boulder must be a supernatural power he was abusing and mastering on a daily basis. Yes, she would be seeing more of that boy.

She sat down on her bed and reached inside her jacket. She dug her hand into the pocket inside her jacket and stopped instantly, her eyes shot wide open. She pulled her jacket to her and opened up the pocket wide and looked into it, worry all over her face.

"My cigarettes," she whispered weakly to herself, "they confiscated my fucking cigarettes."

**Brunettes in the Night**

Quistis lazily punched in the numbers to open the door to her room. The door hissed behind her as it closed. Never in all her years at B-Garden did she investigate what it was in the doors that made that sound, then she remembered she was too tired to care about menial things like that, all of her energy spent that way was done so in the classroom.

She was greeted by the sweet alto meow of her eggshell-white cat Marcus. Since Squall didn't mind having Angelo around the Garden he allowed pets in the private quarters. Quistis had gone to Balamb and taken Marcus from the animal shelter immediately when Squall issued that. She had seen him off and on in the streets of Balamb after the Second Sorceress War, sometimes buying him food or trying to find him a home in Balamb, all along wanting to keep him herself, she was thrilled when she finally could.

As much respect as she had for Cid, after Squall assumed the role of headmaster Cids rules and regulations seemed unnecessarily harsh. She had probably never thought so before because she was raised mostly in the garden that he ran. Now that she thought of him, she should arrange a trip for her and the others to visit him and Edea.

_It's been awhile._

They had fixed and reopened the orphanage since Squall took charge of B-Garden, and the house was once again littered with children. Quistis wondered if those kids would go to the gardens soon. Would they turn out the same way she and the others had? If so she wished them all better luck than she had. At twenty one, she thought that she'd be different somehow; she couldn't put her finger on her dissatisfaction.

"Marcus, sometimes I wish you were a human, you'd be the greatest man I've ever met."

Quistis held her hand in front of Marcus and let him rub his face against her fingers. He was purring loudly the way he always did, and now his mouth was agape so he could brush his teeth against her finger nails. She loved it when he purred with his mouth open; it was a whole other sound.

She kicked off her boots, set her glasses on the night-stand and stripped. Her clothes fell soundlessly to the ground the way pudding would against kitchen tile. She went into her bathroom, drew a bath, and looked in the mirror at herself while she waited.

Quistis started drumming her belly rhythmically and made sounds with her mouth like 'bum' and 'do'. She honestly saw nothing appealing about her body; Quistis was like a woman in her forties who had not physically aged for twenty years. She would never be able to appreciate her beauty herself, but she would also never be convinced if someone told her otherwise. Rinoa and Selphie were always talking about how her students and other such bachelors eyed her constantly but Quistis never saw that happen. They were probably trying to be nice to her, being the only member of the orphanage gang not to be paired up after the conflict.

Except for Seifer, he had gone missing after the Sorceress war. When Fujin and Raijin rejoined

B-Garden a year after the war they said they were living with him at Fisherman's Horizon. They claimed that when they were reinstated to B-Garden; he flipped; insulted them, saying that they should be damned to the dankest pits of Hynes cunt for disowning him, and disappeared. If they knew anything else they let no one know.

She had seen wanted posters of him all over the world; though most of them were faded and peeled away, gone with the wind like everyone's thoughts of him. Esthar however had computer screens with his face all over them and those had not faded. Laguna seemed to hate Seifer more than Squall did out of principle. And for some reason he hated him more now that he was presumed dead. Laguna just didn't believe it.

But she didn't care to think about him right now, she was going to relax. She'd made no progress with any of her classes today and she just wanted to take a bath, fall asleep, maybe she'd do both and drown. That would be nice, that way she wouldn't have to teach her classes tomorrow. Funny how she hated the things she loved the most.

Quistis slipped, quivering into the hot water and let sleep all but take her. She exhaled the long breath she held from when she sank into the piping hot water and decided she would teach her classes tomorrow, even if it was only to keep Grave and Joselyn under control.

_**EG**_

His legs were shaking the same way his teeth chattered when he was cold. He took the first three steps out of his bedroom and nearly fell over, he would have banged his head against the table and made a loud noise, then she'd be awake and this would all be ruined. Why was this so hard? He'd gotten up the nerve to get out of bed, why was he having so much trouble going further? It seemed that the moment his feet touched the floor he couldn't walk steadily, like it was an automatic reaction he should have expected.

Tucker was hopelessly frustrated. He had never been so in love before! Of course that meant he'd have to work hard to earn what he wanted. If he could sneak into her room and just give her a quick peck on the cheek he'd feel fantastic and she'd be none the wiser. It wasn't like he was harming her, and it wasn't going to be sexual or anything so he couldn't get kicked out on grounds of harassment. There wasn't anything wrong with it was there? Eventually he stood up and managed a quiet stumble to Joselyn's door. He wiped the dangling mucus from his nose with his forearm and made a kind of sucking noise. Surprised that he hadn't awoken her already, he pressed on.

Thud.

Tucker froze. What was that? Would it wake her up? Would she question him? Hit him or worse? Above all what was making that loud noise?

Thud.

There it was again. A moment later he felt very silly when he realized what it was. His nose was bleeding again and the droplets were hitting the floor loudly. He'd been having a lot of nose bleeds lately, he could swear that the last time Grave beat the shit out of him he split open all kinds of little blood vessels in his face so that he'd get nose bleeds on a schedule.

Thud.

He would have stood there outside her door grinning like an idiot at his bleeding nose a little longer but Tucker decided that he should clean up before he did this. He wouldn't want to get blood on that beautifully creamy face of hers. He held his hand under his nose and tip-toed into the bathroom. Flicked the light switch on and gathered a lot of toilet paper in his hands before he pinched his nose and tilted his head back. Joselyn had shown him to do this, she was so great.

After the bleeding stopped he took a look at himself. His face was crusty with various nasal drippings; his arm smudged the same way. He washed his face and scrubbed as best he could on his pajama sleeve and wiped it dry with a hand towel. He was ready now; he took one last look in the mirror, took a careful breath thinking that a deep one would result in another nose bleed and left the bathroom.

He staggered into her room more slightly confident than he was before, slightly. It was dark in her room but he could see her. She was dazzling even in her sleep. She was on her right side the hair that normally covered part of her face was laying against her pillow. He could see her whole face for once. She was curled up with both hands under her cheek in the quintessential sleeping position, but to him her lips were sticking out in the darkness the way Grave stuck out in a crowd of normal people. He snickered the way a rodent would at that thought of Grave. He took another careful breath, and focused on his plan to kiss her cheek, and then when he finally stood beside her bed, he got greedy.

With his cold, spidery hands –still slightly wet from the sink—he rolled up her tank top –the same one she had sewn up before she went to bed, he stopped for a moment and winced when he thought about Grave harming Joselyn like he had. He recovered himself and continued; he kept rolling until her shirt was rolled away from her bra, then he pulled down just one cup of her bra. He took in the sight in the dark room. Suddenly he felt very daring and he opened his mouth, and his head hung over her breast so closely, his tongue was hanging out, he was so close.

And a single drop of drool fell from his tongue and onto her nipple.

Three things happened at once; Joselyn's eyes shot open, Joselyn's hand swiped at Tuckers face in a wide arc, Joselyn and Tucker made loud dragged out screeches –Tucker actually sounded more girly than Joselyn but neither had the attention to spare to take notice.

Joselyn simultaneously sat up and rolled down her shirt, then kicked Tucker square in the face, his exposed teeth clattered together while he fell against the desk across from her bed. Joselyn bolted into the hallway leaving Tucker in her room with his lips hanging off of his face and possibly a concussion.

_Damnit, I'm so fucking stupid._

_**EG**_

"Joselyn?"

Joselyn stopped for a moment holding her hands to her chest and looked to Cody. He was holding a black suitcase she'd never seen him carry before and looked just as confused as she must have.

Probably didn't look quite as frightened though.

"What's wrong? What happened?" he asked, concerned.

"TUCKER...DROOL...NIPPLE." was all she managed to stammer out.

"...Ya know what? That's all I need to hear. You want to sleep in my dorm?" he gave her a friendly pat on the back and squeezed her shoulder.

"BUT... sorry, But we aren't allowed to do that."

"I think that we can make an exception here," he started leading her to his room.

"Okay, thanks a lot," she said relieved somewhat.

"I'll tell Instructor Trepe in the morning, she'll probably tell the headmaster and this will all get worked out. You can sleep on my bed all right? I'll sleep in the kitchen or something."

"No don't do that, I'll do that, I'll be fine."

"Come on; let me be chivalrous about this. My room's this way," he said turning right down the hallway.

"Thanks Cody, you cannot possibly understand how I feel right now." She couldn't help but shiver. Two monsters who looked like men assaulting her in one day was too much, especially if the second one goes for you in your sleep.

"And I hope I never do."

Damn kids, they spent their time in these classes with either hope or boredom in their eyes. Little do they know they'll lose that look –even the feeling—after they make their first kill. He had grown to hate that bored-ness ever since he found that out. He came back from his first field exam a mess, and until the next morning he had been a different person. The nausea in his stomach had spread throughout his body the blade sank into the Galbadian soldier's neck. He was pinned and had to resort to the straight razor he kept in his pocket. Nothing had scared him so much in his whole life when the blood from that mans throat spilled onto his hands and his face.

Ever since then, whenever someone claimed their first one was easy, he never believed them. Even from the oldest, most weathered soldiers or even the hollowest criminals. He'd never believe it.

It was a good thing nobody could see his blood stained face and hands now, because PesticidEs had to cover themselves up. He wouldn't have to show his bloody face to any of them again. He scarcely looked at himself anymore; the only people who seemed to be around when he was uncovered were Carbuncle and Xu. Carbuncles shift ended at the same time as his and Xu always seemed to be nagging him.

Speaking of Xu, she would most certainly bug him before he went to bed tonight. He'd learned the hard way she hated it when you called her zoo. She was the only person on the world who noticed the difference between the pronunciations of the two words, and as much as he was puzzled by it, he loved to torment her, and that was the easiest way.

Savior, B-Gardens prize PesticidE had been off shift for two hours and had spent the whole time reminiscing in Quistis Trepes class room. He had been one of her students prior to the Second Sorceress war and he missed those days. She was a good teacher; she sucked at encouraging many of her students to learn though. If you weren't a Trepie you probably weren't very eager in one of her classrooms. And mostly that was because of the Trepies. They worshiped the ground she intended to walk on so nobody could respect them, and she never did anything about them so nobody but the Trepies respected her.

Or maybe it was the two students of hers that stood out the most. Seifer Almasy and Squall Leonhart, Seifer, the lapdog who had a hand in the time compression, Squall, who stopped him and the bitch who Seifer worked for. If not for her those two wouldn't have accomplished what they did, though Almasy hadn't really accomplished anything to speak of. He had been chewed up, spat out and left in the gutter, that poor bastard.

Whatever happened, Quistis always managed to be controversial as a teacher despite her best efforts. Sometimes _because_ of her best efforts.

Savior vividly remembered the way Seifer would torment Squall and Quistis and occasionally the other classmates. Seifer had preferred stabbing insults and physical violence, but at the same time things like spit balls and loud sounds made by drumming his desk with pencils was not beneath him. If Seifer were still around and continuing that behavior as childishly as he had back then, Savior thought he wouldn't be as comfortable with it. Back then he didn't mind so much, he even thought it was funny a lot of the time. But Savior was very different now, he had to be. It would have hurt not to change.

He became sick of reminiscing and turned heel to leave, and there was Quistis, she was in the doorway and Hyne knew how long she had been there watching him. She was shining a friendly smile, her head tilted to one side and her eyebrows creased like she was concerned about him. She most certainly was; she had been concerned about him every minute since their first mission together. She blamed herself for his injury.

Her hair was honey dark with water and draped against her shoulders, she was wearing a bathrobe and a pair of fuzzy slipper's; she must have showered before she came. This raised the question-

"Why are you here so late?" He asked, his voice a polite rumble behind a static veil.

"Oh, um, oh yeah, I left a book in my desk, I wanted to read before I went to bed," she sounded defensive, suddenly aware she'd been staring at him. She dripped onto the cold floor.

"Ah," he said, too quiet to make her comfortable.

"Why are _you_ here so late?" she said with a smile so sweetly mirthful.

"Just spending time in the old classroom, I used to be one of your…" He kicked himself mentally for letting that much slip, suddenly her face was electric.

"What was that?" Savior was well aware of Quistis's desire to uncover his identity and now he worried that she'd finally find him out.

"Nothing," he said, too quickly.

"No it's not, you were one of my students!" she had apparently forgotten about the book altogether, that was valuable information that he just gave her, he kicked himself mentally again.

"Look, don't tell Xu about this, she'll extricate me for sure," Quistis stopped suddenly and became very serious.

"First of all you are the Gardens best bodyguard, Squall wouldn't let you get fired under any circumstance. Secondly you can trust me to keep this a secret regardless of that," she finished by poking him in the chest.

"Good, damn I can't believe I let that slip."

"Maybe you want me to find out," she said laughing they way she did, lowering her head, covering her mouth, closing her eyes.

Savior chose not to tell her she was right, although he was thinking it very loudly. Quistis went back to her desk to get her book and Savior decided to take this opportunity to leave. Just as he was leaving she intercepted him and looked up to his mask. He knew what was coming and he never liked it when she did this.

Quistis put her hand on his mask, on the spot where his left goggle once was. Now there was a smear of plastic, a messy patch-up for damaged he sustained on that mission with her. His left eye had been damaged badly and had to be removed to avoid infection.

Now his helmet had one goggle making him the most unique of the PesticidEs. With the others there names had to be announced or else you had no idea which one it was, but when you looked at Savior it was very clear that you were looking at him. It was a gift he was not too thrilled to have.

He knew she was responsible for it but he wouldn't admit it to himself. He couldn't bring himself to torment her; it would hurt him more to do so. Quistis left him with that, and started to leave. She was to the bridge when she spoke up again. She blinked noticeably when she stopped as if she had just thought of something.

"What did your hair look like?" She knew she couldn't expect any kind of answer out of him but she always had a fund time trying him.

"It was..." he knew he shouldn't do this, but with Quistis resistance was futile, he'd have to give her something. "Short," yeah, that was good, but Quistis didn't look impressed.

"Thanks a lot," she said lamely.

"It was _really_ short," he said enthusiastically, she just shook her head and held it in her hand, she was tired, it would be good of him to let her go so she could sleep.

"This isn't over," she said pointing accusingly at him, "I _will_ find out every little detail about your _hair,_" she dragged out her vowels when she said 'hair.'

"Good night Miss Trepe."

"Good night Savior," she grinned at his 'Miss' and left him.

He wanted to just show her, right now. Catch her at the elevator and just tear off his mask. He knew she'd find out eventually, Quistis Trepe was a fucking detective by night he swore it. How else would she have found out about stowaway bottle of whiskey those years ago? He thought he had been careful about it but he had been wrong. Luckily for him she had been nice about it; she chose to confiscate it just before curfew began, rather than doing it in class. She always made it a point to give people what was coming to them, which was why she was a good teacher; it was also why he –back then—hated that she was his teacher.

Instead he chose to wait a few minutes until he was sure she was far from him. She would feel more victorious if she found out herself anyway.

It was better this way.

He rode the elevator to the first floor and rounded the walkway to the training center. The PesticidEs guarding the other areas either tipped their heads or saluted him, and he would answer the same way. Savior was the most formidable PesticidE –not to mention the first—and therefore the most respected, there was too much to live up to in his opinion. He was also the only one to sustain a serious injury, which was commendable in a way he didn't quite understand.

He entered the training center through the left door. This was where Grave and that new girl ended their brawl earlier that morning. Savior saw much potential in both of them, he'd seen Grave fight before, and had the opportunity to guard Quistis's classroom to take notice on how he did in class, Savior admittedly was a much worse student than Grave.

The girl –he hadn't learned her name yet, that would have to change soon—was clearly extraordinary just because she made it out the way she did against Grave. Savior knew they would graduate at the next inauguration, it was a given.

He took twenty paces before he stopped and looked around; nobody was around except for Fujin Saeta, who had a job within the Garden that –without her—would have been filled by a PesticidE. Because of an increase in the number of serious injuries and... Fatalities, sadly, a very experienced SeeD or PesticidE was required to be stationed in the Training center at all times. Most often that was Fujin. She hadn't noticed him, not something that usually happened to her when on the job but it was him sneaking around after all. He kneeled down and peered inside the log, as expected he saw a large satchel which he removed and slung over his shoulder. That was all he intended to do in here, especially with his Saber left in his room. It wasn't often he didn't wear it, but today nobody had ever infiltrated the Garden, for at least the two years he had been on duty, so he was hardly worried he'd need it.

He left the Training center and rounded the walk back to the elevator. The same guards who acknowledged him earlier either didn't notice he was holding something or they didn't care. He took the elevator down to the B1 level and got off just in time to hear Xu end a lecture for new recruits, it seemed they came in every month now. When he had first applied it took three more months before any others came, it was embarrassing those first few months being one man whose job was to guard a gargantuan Easter egg of a military academy.

Savior chose to head to his room immediately so as to avoid Xu's nagging. Surely she would be aggravated because he had stayed above for over two hours, and _surely_ she'd be suspicious of a black bag she had never seen before slung over his shoulder.

He entered his room –which was not much unlike a cadet room except the rooms were made for one person each—and locked the door with the punch of a button. He tossed the bag onto his bed and stripped himself of his uniform and threw it all haphazardly on his red carpet. He sat down on his bed and opened up the satchel. He couldn't believe he was still doing this, he couldn't believe he had done it to begin with.

He pulled the large item out of the bag and examined it front to back. It was perfect, better than he had imagined it would be. As A-religious as he was he thanked Hyne for whatever she may have done to contribute to this. Then he put it away after shuffling to find a place for it and went to bed.

He was guarding Quistis' classroom again tomorrow, it would be one of the better days of the week for him.

_A/N: Read and Review please, I really want constructive criticism. I want to know what you think about everybody, are my portrayals of the borrowed characters convincing and what do you think of the original ones, etc..._ _Also, if you're having trouble picturing Cody, just imagine Cid Highwind from FF7 as a 17 year old cadet at B-Garden. If you are having trouble imagining the PesticidE's, they resemble the villain in Hellboy who wears a gasmask. Also know that if you review me I will reply to you in chapters to come._


	2. Classes And Time Off

_Disclaimer & A/N: I changed my mind; I guess I will repeat myself. I don't own this; I do own that, I don't own Rice crispies cereal._

_**Dark Fortuna**: Thank you for the generous review. I personally think the plot doesn't even exist until part 3 but thanks. As for my speech it will definitely improve once the story goes somewhere, also I'm corresponding with Altol to put the cherry on the sundae._

_**Altol**: I have been reviewed by madam Seiftis herself! I am pleased. I'll watch myself from now on when describing things elaborately. Thanks for the compliment on Joselyns tickly hair. Thank you again for your tips, I know there's **something** wrong with my dialogue but I had no idea it was lonely._

_Yeh, it goes away, all of this and more of nothing in my life_

_No coloured clay, individuality not safe._

_As of now I bet you've got me wrong_

_So unsure you run from something strong._

_I can't let go, threadbare tapestry unwinding slow_

_Feel a tortured brain, show your belly like you want me too._

_As of now I bet you've got me wrong_

_So unsure we reach for something strong._

_I haven't felt like this in so long, wrong, in a sense too far gone from love_

_That don't last forever, something's gotta turn out right._

_You, sugar taste, sweetness doesn't often touch my face_

_Stay if you please, you may not be here when I leave._

_As of now I bet you've got me wrong_

_So unsure we reach for something strong._

_Got Me Wrong by Alice In Chains, I don't own it. I think it's a good Grave and Joselyn song._

1**Part Two: Classes and time off**

**Cuisine in the Cafeteria**

"_**What do you want to eat girls?" hollered Matron from the kitchen.**_

"_**Spaghetti's!" yelled Quistis.**_

"_**Cupcakes!" yelled Rinoa.**_

"_**Rice crispy treats!" yelled Selphie, one after the other from 6 rooms away.**_

_**Unseen she scans the kitchen and searches through cupboards and iceboxes. The children couldn't see her but she looked very distressed, there was literally no food in sight –in the kitchen of all places! The children would have thought their caretaker would be acting the way they did in candy and toy stores, because she always looked happy and eager when cooking for them or doing any activity in the kitchen. **_

"_**Well, we're out of Spaghetti, hmm, there was a cupcake here a minute ago, oh well. But we do have rice crispy treats!" she said enthusiastically.**_

"_**Yay!" the three girls chorused.**_

"_**But as a self respecting caretaker of children there's now way I'm going to put three young girls to bed with rice crispy treats," like a marksmen she shot down their hopes, but kindly, the way guardians sometimes do with children.**_

"_**Aw," they moaned in unison then drooped visibly in their blankets, suddenly resembling the sketches of the Pupu alien doped up unto a stupor.**_

_**Spectral Squall watched from the couch. They were in a mansion, much like the Generals but much more red. The three little girls sat together on the floor of the grand living room, all wrapped in blankets and huddled together by the crackling fire place. Matron eventually came out of the kitchen with a silver tray of cheeses, lunch meats, and olives speared with toothpicks. **_

_**They looked so out of place in the mansion, wrapped in little blankets on the floor rather than sprawled out on the couch –but then Squall was sitting there, and seeing Rinoa sitting inside him would be a little unnerving, he was glad they chose to sit on the floor—dressed in cheap cotton rather than gowns and expensive high heels.**_

_**Squall was interested in the way the girls spoke, if not simultaneously then one after the other until each one had their say. They had this unspoken agreement with one another that no one would be left out when they were together, although they would no doubt see nothing wrong with leaving out the boys.**_

"_**Thank you Matron," they said bright eyed and bushy-blanketed once again.**_

"_**You're welcome girls," she set the tray down for them and kneeled on the floor opposite them.**_

"_**Tell us a story," Quistis said then popped an olive in her mouth and started bouncing her heels on her currently non-existent butt.**_

"_**Yeah tell us a story," Rinoa echoed as if it were her own idea.**_

"_**Yeah, like that time when Irvy put the ice cubes**_ _**in Zell's shorts, I thought that was funny!" Selphies mouth was muffled by an almost pretty display of meats and cheeses she had stuffed in her mouth and was having a bit of trouble keeping it all inside.**_

_**Squall chuckled non-existantly, he remembered that. Seifer had joined the fun after he noticed and Squall himself hid with Ellone. Squall never liked playing games with the others very much even if they didn't include ice in the underwear. But when that sort of activity took place he usually made sure he was invisible.**_

"_**Hmm, how about something made up?" Matron said encouragingly, helping herself to salami that had gone untouched by the young ones.**_

"_**Okay," they were all hopping on their butts now. They looked like elves performing a children's play sitting in a row, and hopping in sync just like when they spoke.**_

"_**Okay, once upon a time…" Matron began by waving her hands and speaking in the most whimsical voice she could muster.**_

"_**Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Shit crap dammit, dammit, dammit! Get off me old man face!" the boy could not be seen yet but anyone could guess how fast he was running judging by his uneven breathing.**_

_**Through the open door of the next room, the attention of all four ladies and Squall was brought to the young boy –professional**_ _**cursing teenager in training—who crashed through the main door loudly. Little Seifer was panting, scraped, dirty, and bleeding a little, his left eye was bruised purple while his other was swollen halfway shut. He got up, dusted himself off with pink hands and caught sight of the four people in front of him.**_

_**They didn't know if he wasn't smiling at the attention because they weren't yelling at him yet, or if it was because his cheeks hurt too much to smile even if he wanted to. He was still panting loudly when he approached them, intending to go to the kitchen for something; he obviously hadn't noticed the food.**_

"_**Geezard," He explained, coughing like a smoker, "stole my cupcake."**_

_**Quistis, Rinoa, and Matron looked perplexed and worried while Selphie was flat out pissed. But then the Geezard Seifer had spoken of slithered into the house like electricity through the power lines and suddenly she was cheery again. Seifer missed the looks on their faces. **_

_**But became aware of the intruder once it bit his foot.**_

"_**AH!" the scream was dragged out and reverberated in the finely meshed walls in a way that could only happen in a dream. Seifer tripped and fell flat on his face; then flipped onto his back in a way that would have looked over dramatized and silly without the monster present. He thrashed left and right as the monster chewed on his ankle while the girls did nothing. Seifer rued Selphie's smile and promised himself that he'd hurt her when this was all over. **_

_**He thrashed to his left and a large metal toy dump truck caught his eye. Suddenly filled with hope to accompany the frantic and disorderly energy of an endangered child he picked up the truck by its wheel and smacked the Geezard in the head "LET. GO OF ME. YOU, STUPID, CUPCAKE SWALLOWING... MEANY!" after about of minute of abusing the monster –with the truck and more children's name-calling borrowed from Rinoa—it started making cracking and squishing sounds; and Seifer was getting tired, his swings though accurate, became limp and slow, so Matron took the toy away and cradled him in her lap.**_

_**Quistis looked at Seifer, he had apparently gone to sleep. He looked so peaceful after being battered, and bruised, and exerted from killing a monster with a children's toy. Who would have known?**_

_**Quistis crawled out of blanket which remained erect, and gave Seifer a peck on his scraped, blood spotted lips. She wiped the bits of blood from her face and smiled like a cherub when he opened his eyes again moments after. **_

_**(This again?) Squall thought.**_

_**For a moment they looked at one another and everything was peaceful, his pain melted visibly into the floor, a comfortable numbness saturated him and he felt just-**_

_**fuzzy.**_

_**Then Selphie screamed, "SEIFER YOU STOLE MY CUPCAKE!"**_

Squall woke up with a start on Rinoas side of the bed, she was probably up already.

If there was anything that Selphie really knew about Squall it was he was not a morning person. By the afternoon he'd be able to leap off the walls and decapitate dinosaurs but in the morning he was about as active as a sandbag. He really didn't want to get up yet but he'd have to at least start. With great effort he managed to roll over, his back to the mattress, his eyes on the mug filled with pencils that he was sure he had left on his desk yesterday…

In fact he was sure that it had broken and that he threw it away. He knew the mug had been in the bedroom before, but there was no way that it was the same one if it had broken yesterday.

Curiosity inspiring him to arise he got out of bed to see if it was the same mug. He staggered away from the bed then picked it up and looked at it, it looked that same. But they had lots of them in the cupboard; maybe Rinoa just took the mug out of the cupboard, filled it with pencils, and placed it in their bedroom… yeah.

"Morning sleepy head," said Rinoa coming into the bedroom, she was wearing one of his dress shirts... the blue one, with the pink and yellow peace sign buttons that Selphie bought him for his birthday last year.

_Whatever, I don't like that thing anyway._

"Morning," he said inaudibly. Rinoa quickly put on her curious frown and tilted her head; she looked like a doll with a broken neck.

"You look unusually gloomy this morning, what's wrong?" she approached him and for a moment he was distracted by her bare legs but he quickly remembered the matter at hand.

"This mug; wasn't it on my desk yesterday?" Rinoa joined him at the cup and looked intently at it.

"Well, it looks the same, but we have lots of those in the cupboard."

"And didn't it break and I had to clean it up?"

"Yeah," she answered furrowing her brow, wondering what he was getting at.

Squall turned slightly to look Rinoa square in the eyes, it was the same look he gave her when sliced through the machine that she was imprisoned in those years ago, desperately loving and far away.

"Rinoa..."

In reality he sounded normal but to her his voice was breathier with echoes and so, so much reverb. She looked at him with puppy dog eyes forgetting entirely about the cup, she didn't even know why he was worrying so much about it, her heart simply melted and nestled comfortably in her belly, she loved it when he did this to her.

"...did you take one of the mugs out of the cupboard, fill it with pencils, and put it in our bedroom?" he said lamely, not budging an inch.

All at once her heart slid back into her chest, and stiffened to its original shape once again, although her face remained in the same looking obliviously pleased, she was very disappointed. A skill that perhaps all women possess.

"No Squall, I didn't do that," she then turned her heel and marched into the kitchen. Squall didn't notice her disappointment and brought his attention back to the mug.

"This is going to bug me," he scratched the back of his head and yawned his curiosity away. Most often Squall lied when he said this, to him even the most curious things became trivial if he was too tired.

And lately Squall had been very, very tired.

Squall entered the kitchen and was greeted by the aroma of coffee brewed with cloves and a rewarding view of Rinoa bending over to put something back into the floor cupboards beside the sink, probably a piece of that space-aged coffee machine that Selphie gave them the day of their wedding –she said that it was from her and Irvine but Rinoa and he knew better—he still didn't know how the damned thing worked, every time he tried to use it he thought the device would commence a countdown then blast off out their window.

"Do you know about a cadet named Tucker Carlson?" Squall sat down on one of their stools and thought a moment.

"...you mean that kid whose sick all the time?" he asked after a moment, not really interested.

"Yeah, I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong with that boy. He said we need to talk to his room mate Joselyn, he was very beaten up"

"What's his condition?" he asked robotically. These were three words that Squall found himself saying nearly everyday now, even though most violent activity took place in the training center, and they had people to keep trouble in that area to a minimum.

"He has a severe concussion and his lips were dangling off of his face, I bandaged him up and did my best sewing up his lips, I had to use some potions but he'll probably get a scar anyway."

"So many scars recently…" Squall mused quietly and Rinoa nodded. "Think he'll be able to take his exam?" he asked with the same monotone from before.

"Yeah, he'll make a full recovery just in time," she said handing him a coffee whilst stirring what seemed to Squall like an three ounces of sweetened cream into her own cup

"This sounds serious, how did you find him? Did he come to our room? Did he come to the infirmary directly?" he took his first sip of coffee and made a face, then added some sugar while Rinoa kept sipping her coffee carelessly, replacing what she drank with cream and she continued to talk.

"I had something to do in the infirmary last night after you fell asleep, and when I got there he was moaning and unconscious on one of the cots. He says that someone probably found him and brought him there which _is_ the only thing that makes sense, his concussion was bad enough to knock him unconscious for a few hours. I can't imagine who would do that but then again he's not the most popular kid in his class."

"You think his room mate had something to do with it?" he asked finally interested.

"Probably, I think she's the one who did it to him." She spoke a bit more vibrantly now that her husband sounded more interested. She did wish he could take more interest in her work, but he didn't even have interest in his own work, and he was always busy with it so she found it easy to forgive him.

"Why's that?" he asked carefully, it seemed like Rinoa had spaced out for a moment.

"What?" she asked dubiously.

"Why do you think his roommate did it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, one of gestures that he always saved for Rinoas company and Rinoas company alone.

"Oh, I took the liberty of looking in their room after I took care of him." She sipped her coffee and regaining her focus. "There are a few droplets of blood in front of her doorway which no doubt belong to him, and blood against the edge of the table where he likely hit his head. It's kind of suspicious. We definitely need to talk to his room mate."

"I'll call for her this afternoon, do you know her name?" he asked as if he wasn't really going to take a note of it, although he would.

"Joselyn, Abgestossen" she stated carefully.

"Joselyn, Abgestossen," he repeated the same way, taking a sip of his coffee.

They were quiet then; Rinoa turned her head up and enjoyed the sensation of blood pooling in the back of her skull. Squall adjusted to the amount of sugar he had added to his coffee and focused on Rinoas throat with attention he could never dream of mustering for paperwork. Suddenly Rinoa dropped her head.

"We're having breakfast with everybody today," she said closing her eyes and smiling just slightly, feeling the fluid equalize in her blood vessels once more.

"We are now?" he asked feigning interest once more.

"Yeah, in fact we'll have to leave soon. They want to have the cafeteria kitchen to themselves before the lunch lady gets there and takes over," she was clearly in a hurry, she always was in the morning which was not a quality he was fond of, and he endured it every morning. But then he would always imagine what it must be like to be Irvine at this time of day, and that always made it easier to catch up with Rinoa.

"All right," he said quickly.

Squall drained his whole coffee before dumping the mug in the sink and walking into the bedroom to change. He hadn't yet fastened his belt through his dress pants before something occurred to him.

"Rinoa?" he asked from the bedroom twisting his torso to the doorway, only his head facing her.

"Hmm?" she asked mirroring his stance from the kitchen.

"If that Tucker kid was carried wouldn't that mean that there would be a trail of blood from his room to the infirmary?" he asked trying to put on his clothes while talking and looking the other way, and doing an awful job.

RINOA "...That's a good point, huh. That's really going to bug me," she said not noticing how like her husband she sounded.

Squall smiled to her and corrected his clothes. He was grateful for every moment he had with Rinoa, she was one of few things he wouldn't trade for something else.

_**EG**_

Joselyn scrubbed furiously at her nipple.

She was in the girls cadet shower room of the dormitory wing, in a shower stall with so little elbow room that the thing had nearly fallen apart when she reached for her soap, though that wouldn't be such a big deal considering the amount of steam a shower like the one she was using produced. She had been in there for fifteen minutes but hadn't even cleaned her hair yet. Her nipple was bright red now and she mused that it would glow in the dark when she went to bed.

Tucker was going to pay, she would see to that. Cody assured her she would get a new room mate but that wasn't enough for her. She didn't know exactly what she'd done to him the night before but there was no way it was enough. Joselyn was no virgin, but she was _damn_ selective about who did that kind of thing with her.

She made her thoughts drift to Cody. She had not met his room mate yet, but thinking about that was probably stupid. Most of the students looked very generic, if the room mate was a guy; he was mid-sized, slim, built like a swimmer with a crew cut. If the room mate was a girl; she'd be easily dwarfed, very slim, built like a girls doll and with a face too sweet for its own good, yet somehow un-wimpy -sometimes.

Joselyn reluctantly gave up cleansing her breast; there was still this disgusting feeling of energy clinging to it. She would just have to ignore it until it went away. When let down her hair covered her breasts completely, now her hair –due to being wet and having been kept in braids—resembled steel gray ramen noodles.

She left the stall, dried off and got dressed, wrapping her hair into a turban with a second towel, not worrying about her nakedness since there was no one awake at this hour. She had left her jacket in Cody's room, and she carried her boots so as not to wake anybody up by the clink of the bolts in the soles.

The transformed garden had few windows but she knew it was night and thought that even the lunch lady was probably still in bed. She would have stopped to look out one of the few windows but Cody had told her to come back to the room quickly, she had been promised a hearty breakfast for her first day of classes. Though she couldn't imagine how they'd do that, there was virtually no food in his dorm, and the cafeteria wasn't even open yet.

Joselyn approached the door with the crooked looking six set at eye level –collarbone level on her—and knocked on Cody's door and was greeted instantly; like he had been leaning against the door frame for the whole twenty minutes waiting for her to come back, which was almost true, he had slept on the floor outside of his room while she slept in his bed, he was probably getting a few extra winks while she was showering. He was still wearing the white shirt and blue pants he'd slept in, he had told her the night before that the cadet uniforms were mandatory on field exams but after that you could dress how you pleased. There used to be a uniform for SeeDs but those were long abandoned since the Galbadian army held its grudge against them.

She didn't think it was possible for Cody to have bed head with such short hair but there it was. Little inch long hairs bent slightly in all directions somehow. He gave her that charming smile –now accented by sleepiness making him look a bit dopey—and let her come in. Joselyn sat down and undid the turban, continued drying her hair.

"How was your shower?" he asked lazily.

"Fine," she said still toweling her hair.

"I'd think that after what you went through it would be fantastic," he said as he limply walked across the room and sat down at the card table with her.

"Yeah, you'd think so, but I can still feel the sensation," she said shivering with the towel lying on her head, obscuring her face even more than it was already.

"Really? Man that's creepy," he said still sounding very tired, he blinked a few times and propped his legs on the flimsy table, it wobbled uneasily but Cody didn't seem to notice, in fact it looked like he was dozing off again.

"Oh, well, you said something about a hearty breakfast earlier?" she asked glad to change the subject.

"Yeah, just let me wake Grave up and we'll get going," somehow looking more awake he hopped out of his chair and knocked on the other door in the room.

"Okay," she replied casually. _Wait a minute..._ she stopped toweling her head after a moment and just sat there looking awkward with the towel in her hair.

Cody knocked on the door neighboring his room with a rat-tat-tat sound similar to a fully automatic weapon, the kind of door knock that was sure to wring every ounce of patience a resting person could possibly have. Joselyn winced but part of her was absurdly thrilled, she knew that there would be _something_ bad about him, and she finally found it.

Joselyn heard unnerving rustling sounds from inside the room, and after about three minutes of what sounded like stumbling the unmistakable face of Grave poked out of the door. His eyes weren't quite open and his bed head was naturally worse than Cody's, it looked like it was all combed to one side and it sort of flared out at the top. In fact he looked very much like an anime character that way, or one of those exotic chickens.

"What is it Cody?" he said sounding fully awake but not looking the part.

"Joselyn over there's starting her classes today and I thought that you could fix breakfast for her," he jerked a thumb in Joselyns direction.

Grave pivoted his head like a mannequin might in her direction, and she smiled and creased her eyebrows in a way that looked like blanching, she gave him a small wave. Grave never took his sleepy gaze off of her.

"What's _she_ here for?"

"Well uh, how do I put this?" he scratched the back of his head, "Tucker..."

Grave suddenly widened his eyes and took a breath, looking rejuvenated by alarm. Simultaneously looking more ridiculous with his hair standing the way it was.

"Say no more, I'll be right out," and with that he closed his door.

Joselyn smiled; glad he too was polite to press things further than that. And that she shared something so important in common with him –in fact she'd like to be permanently familiar with this kid's good side.

She began braiding her hair and finished at about the same time Grave came back out. He was dressed the same way as he had been yesterday, minus his large jacket, and his hair was restored to its original position.

"Let's go," he said leaving the dorm with Cody.

"Where?" she asked following them out of the room.

"The cafeteria, where else are we gonna get food here?" he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"But the cafeteria isn't open yet," she said dubious and puzzled.

"I have certain privileges the other students don't know about," he flicked a red keycard out of his pocket like it was an equally flashy Zippo.

"Hyne knows how he got that with all the trouble he gets in," he said with a tone that fell somewhere between accusing and joking.

"It opens up the cafeteria and everything in it, and I got it from instructor Trepe after I retrieved her license for her," he tried flipping the card with his thumb like it was a coin but gave up and put it back in his pocket after he decided he couldn't.

"Oh, figures..." Cody said with a sly smile.

"Why does that figure?" she said to entertain Cody, she knew he'd love to say whatever it was he was smiling about. He turned around and walked backwards so he could talk to her face to face.

"Instructor Trepe is one of the heroes, she lost her instructors license three years ago and got it back two years ago after Grave had been her for a year and found out about it. Ever since then she's had a soft spot for him so she does stuff like this, she knows that he's a cook so she gave him the key to the cafeteria." He explained while tripping and catching himself backwards twice, somehow without missing a beat.

"How did you find out that she lost her license?" Joselyn asked and Cody turned back around.

"She was tutoring me for awhile." Said Grave. "Eventually it slipped out and I decided to talk to the headmaster about it," he frowned "I'm not too happy though, he never said a word, except when he agreed with me and handed me her license so I could give it to her."

To Joselyn that sounded like a victory, but she understood that something must have been missing to Grave. He frowned so deeply Joselyn swore even his gait had changed.

"Is she a good teacher?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah" they said together nonchalantly, like being a good teacher was always part of the credentials for being a teacher.

Clearly they'd never been to T-Garden.

"And before it occurs to you no, I'm not fucking the instructor," he said clearly to cheer himself up since his frown was clearing.

"I wasn't going to suggest that," she said with a touch of something akin to annoyance.

"Sure you were," he said, beginning to sound arrogant.

Joselyn said nothing. Of course the notion did flash across her mind but it didn't rest there. From what Joselyn could tell Grave broke rules between other students but if he was doing that instructor such a grand courtesy he probably didn't break rules against teachers. And Joselyn knew that sexual conduct between teachers and students was strictly prohibited. She certainly wasn't going to suggest he was fucking the woman. She would just keep quiet; he probably didn't like talking about this.

"I know what people think about me, I just decide based on the way they act, and what I say." Said Grave.

Or maybe he did.

"You sound like a know-it-all," she said with more contempt than she meant to.

"I don't know it all, I just know it better," he said smugly.

"Ah... Well that's not what I was thinking, you and the Instructor I mean," she said in a defensive tone.

"Yes it was," he said playfully, his smile was a grape-flavored crescent moon shaped candy.

"Hey you two, I don't want you getting in another fight ya hear?" he said clearly trying to play the part of the referee.

Cody kept walking for a second before he turned around and saw that Grave and Joselyn had each stopped to give him matching dark looks, the same kind he would have received had they been making out in a closet and he opened the door on them. He held his hands up defensively.

"Sorry, sorry," they shook their heads and moved on.

When they made it to the cafeteria Grave swiped the card through the slot once and let them both in. Grave put his smile back on when Joselyn went in and continued taunting her.

"I know that was what you were thinking."

Just as the metaphorical steam built up in her brain and the metaphorical corks went shooting off the sides of her head like bullets, Grave strode past them and into the kitchen, it was at this time Cody noticed the angry look on her face that she had failed to hide.

"Come in and sit on the counters, breakfast will be ready shortly," he hollered from afar where Joselyn could not make out his activity.

Cody and Joselyn made it into the kitchen just as Grave was preparing a few skillets of bacon. They sat down on the counters like Grave had suggested and Cody leaned over to Joselyn.

"Don't get pissed at him, he's only doing this 'cause he's starting to like you," he whispered carefully in her ear, close, yet not invasive. Always the gentlemen, Cody.

"So he's just being sarcastic a whole lot?" she whispered back, the creases on her face visibly clearing away.

"Yeah," he answered nicely.

"Oh, I can deal with that," she said whispering the final whisper of the morning, "so Grave, if you aren't with your instructor, who are you with?"

"No one," he said deadpan.

"No one?" she asked in genuine disbelief.

"Of course no one, who else would she be?" he asked ladling out all the grease and replacing it with maple syrup.

"I just don't see what's wrong with you, besides the spontaneous-murderous-insanity-thing," she said half sarcastically, gesturing with her eyebrows.

Grave turned around.

"Joselyn, look at me," he gave her a deadpan look like she was supposed to know what was wrong.

"What?" she asked dumbly.

"Are you just being a bitch or do you really not get it?" Joselyn sneered visibly.

"I am _not_ being a bitch!" she said defensively, on the verge of screaming at him.

"Hey you two," he interrupted again as the ref.

Both of them gave him the same looks as before but he refused to look intimidated this time.

"Sorry, but seriously," he looked to Joselyn again, and she to him, "I look like a corpse and you know it, don't pretend**.**"

He turned around again, turning off the heat under the bacon, and putting it all in the same pan which he put on the unlit back burner. He then took a steel bowl and a whisk out of the cupboards then some milk, eggs, and bread from the fridge. Then various spices and liquids from another cabinet, he mixed everything together, then through half the loaf into the mixture and threw the remainder back in the fridge. He did all of this furiously, making lots of loud clanging sounds that individually made the other two humans wince.

This whole display was odd to Joselyn. Grave didn't strike her as someone who would be insecure about his looks. And although his fit was not without reason she failed to grasp exactly what was wrong with him. His paleness was fair, the purple in his lips seemed healthy to her, as odd as it sounded. His eyes though ghoulish weren't ugly, they sparked curiosity. He was without a doubt bizarre-looking but that wasn't unattractive, in fact he looked rather exotic to her.

Rather exotic…

"You don't look bad," she said carefully. Cody's eyes widened visibly as if to say, 'What exactly do you think you're doing?' but Joselyn wasn't focused on Cody.

Grave stopped with a clean frying pan in his hands and he looked at her like he wanted this conversation to end _now_.

"What?" he asked suspiciously.

"I don't think you look bad," she said matter-of-fact.

"You're the only one," he said like it meant nothing and turned back to the stove to start cooking the French toast.

"I'm serious, I like the way you look. You're different."

She was met with his disbelieving stare.

"Very, very different," she said timidly.

Grave turned around again and filled all of their plates; he sat beside Joselyn and ate his food silently. Joselyn felt very uncomfortable so she examined her breakfast to take her mind off of him. If he was so intent to be in a mood then let him have his mood. She tried being nice.

The French toast didn't look as special as it probably tasted but the bacon really had her attention. It was catching the light in the room like glass would and was stuck to her plate. The sleek red curls of meat looked too pretty to eat at first but she decided that Cody would ask her if something was wrong. She used her butter knife to pry a piece off of the plate and took a careful bite.

Suddenly the hot dog Zell made her eat was wiped clean from her memory.

She all but dropped her utensils and wolfed the rest of the food on her plate. Cody and Grave looked at one another, to her, to their own plates then back to her. She finished quickly and was sucking the candy-like maple syrup from her finger tips when she saw their frightened looks.

"What?" she asked, looking and feeling like a child caught with her hand in the beer money jar in the middle of the night.

"Joselyn do you know what a Grendel is?" Grave asked rhetorically.

"Yes," she replied, not liking where this was going.

"Well you eat like one."

"Hey!" she yelled, and cursed again when she almost dropped her food.

"Sorry, I'm just saying, you looked a little ferocious."

Joselyn stared into his eyes, his pupils enragingly unstudyable.

"But not bad." Grave finished, smiled.

Joselyn still wasn't happy but dropped it. She looked away if only to not look at those lips.

"Ya want mine? I'm full now," Cody held his plate to her, the toast was gone but the bacon was untouched.

"Sure, thanks," she gratefully took the bacon, eating it much slower this time.

Cody took her plate and put it in the sink and went back to Grave and Joselyn, someone else would wash it. He sat down just as Joselyn finished her second helping, now feeling awkward that they weren't speaking.

"That guy Zell, had me eat a piece of hot dog yesterday," she said then continued stuffing her face with the sugary meat.

"Ooh, that sucks, I never liked those things," he said dismissively.

"I never liked Zell much," he said mimicking Cody's tone.

"Anyway, thank you," she turned her head to him on the off chance he'd look at her too.

"Certainly," he didn't turn his head to her in this close proximity, which bothered her; she longed to study his eyes.

"Oh, here_ they_ come," he said interrupting Joselyns thoughts.

"Who's 'they?'" she asked since she refused to look away from Grave for the moment.

"The heroes," he said just as dismissively as before, still not looking Joselyn's way.

"Hey Joselyn!" Zell was waving both his arms above his head as if he were too short to see –perhaps the product of hearing a lot of short jokes from people.

Joselyn looked past Grave and waved to Zell, who she thought was being unnecessarily friendly with her. She was glad to have the blood but truth-be-told he kind of got on her nerves, in fact with his stature and that weird hair he reminded her a little bit of... a chicken.

"Hey Zell," she said with fake enthusiasm.

The six of them stopped in front of them and Grave took this opportunity to wash the dishes. Somehow he knew Zell was going to begin the grand introduction.

Zell very eagerly introduced the members of their group that Joselyn hadn't met yet. Squall looked indifferent until Rinoa elbowed him, then he shook her hand with more civility and asked her how her transfer was going and if she had decided to make her move permanent. Irvine kissed her hand and played the part of the sunny gentlemen but Joselyn only pretended to be charmed. She noted also that Squall and Irvine looked quite tired and she could relate. Quistis was the last one and seemed to be forcing her pleasantry just as Joselyn herself must have looked.

She watched as Squall, Selphie, Irvine and Zell went to the other side of the kitchen, and Grave at the same time returned. No one seemed to notice the dark look Grave gave Selphie. Quistis and Rinoa however had more to say.

"Joselyn, Rinoa and I need to talk to you" she said to get Joselyns attention, and was met with a look she didn't think she could trust. Then another look she probably earned by not watching her own face.

They leaned against the counter opposite her and the others and folded their arms. Joselyn tried her best to put an innocent look in her eyes. In case if she was in trouble.

"Your room mate is in the infirmary," Rinoa said amused, accusatory.

"Well... I didn't put him there," she replied doing an unusually bad job of feigning innocence –since her violence had been justified.

Grave chuckled quietly, a sound more like clicking than laughing.

"He said that we should talk to you, what happened?" Rinoa said, ignoring Grave.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said firmly.

"Well you have to talk about it, because this is obviously serious and we don't know anything so we can't decide what to do yet," Joselyn felt decidedly trapped, she had two strangers and two friends present, the strangers were interrogating her, one friend was stuffing his face and the other was washing the dishes instead of trying to help her.

Joselyn was silent for a moment before speaking.

"I woke up and he was about to do something... inappropriate, so I hit him a couple of times and ran out of our dorm," Joselyn avoided their eyes and picked at her plate which only had a few slivers of maple candy left.

"Then I ran into her in the hallway and she spent the night in our dorm," he gestured to Grave then himself.

"Did you sleep on the floor Cadet?" Quistis interjected.

"Yes ma'am" he said, fighting the urge to salute her.

"Good," Quistis smiled pleasantly.

"Anyway..." she leered at Quistis momentarily for interrupting, "so he brought this upon himself?" she asked sounding sure of her assumption.

"Yes," she said with unchallengeable certainty.

"Just one more thing," she said looking ready finally leave Joselyn alone to her relief. Joselyn simply looked at Rinoa to signal she was done talking about this.

"Well, I spoke with the janitor and he said he didn't see anything unusual last night. And we know that if someone had carried Tucker to the infirmary there probably would've been some blood in the halls. But there wasn't any. Do you have any idea how he got there?"

Joselyn could only shake her head. She had left for Cody and Graves room immediately so she couldn't have had anything to do with Tuckers transportation. Rinoa looked very suspicious still but suddenly became warmer.

"Alright then," she said sitting up. "Clear out your room, you'll have a new room and a new room mate by tonight," she sounded friendlier suddenly, suspiciously friendly.

"Thank you ma'am" she smiled broadly, surprised.

It was very unconventional at any academy, including the Gardens to condone such violent behavior. Even if it was well deserved like it was for Tucker. At the least she would expect she would need to deliver a written apology for damaging him badly enough to need medical care. Perhaps Rinoa was a woman who applied vengeance to her feminism, perhaps retaliation for uninvited sexuality was acceptable, even if it went against SeeD code. Joselyn shook her head of her thoughts and continued eating.

"How is he ma'am?" asked Grave, surprising everybody.

Rinoa turned to Grave, not quite facing him, surprised that he'd ask about Tuckers condition, but she obliged him.

"He's going to be alright in time for the field exam, and there's going to be a lot of scarring all around his lips, why are you asking?" she looked very unsure of Grave while she spoke to him about Tucker.

"I'm only curious about his condition... thank you," he said politely, staying out of the conversation.

Everybody blinked at Grave a few times but quickly snapped back to reality. Cody and Quistis had known him closely for three years but he still surprised them sometimes.

"Quistis, I'm going to get some food with the others," she said already on her way to the other side of the kitchen.

"Alright I'll be there in a minute," Quistis assured Rinoa. She waved to her unnecessarily then turned back to Joselyn.

"Okay," Rinoa said with her smile and joined the others on the other side of the kitchen.

"Joselyn, I just wanted to remind you that your first period is going to be the sabers class, then you'll be with me in the magic and special skill class, followed by martial arts…" she said whirling her hand around.

"Then a whole bunch of boring stuff…" Joselyn replied and Quistis smiled.

"Yes, but you don't have a final period yet, and if you tell me what you want now then I can arrange it for you," she offered just as she was obligated to.

"I want to be a sniper," she said without needing to think

"Alright," she looked the way of her friends on the other side of the kitchen, "Irvine! She wants to be a sniper!"

"Alrighty!" he hollered from across the kitchen, almost inaudibly.

"It's done," Quistis said turning back to Joselyn.

"That's it?" Joselyn asked in mild astonishment. Quistis laughed.

"No, no, there's paperwork to be done but it's as good as official, your final period is sniping with Instructor Kinneas," Quistis assured her; now sounding more genuine than before.

Grave grunted in rejection but nobody noticed.

"Great, thanks," she said gratefully, her words also sounded more genuine than they did at the beginning of what she thought was an interrogation.

"Good, I'll see all of you in class," with that she got up from the counter and joined the other heroes.

"I have a feeling she's snottier than she lets on," Joselyn said after waiting for Quistis to get out of earshot.

"Perhaps, but she's a good teacher. More toast?" Grave offered like he knew they wouldn't want anymore.

"No." They both said.

"They're going to pay special attention to you now" he said to Joselyn. He was washing his plate and continuing his habit of talking to her without looking at her. She really needed to change that.

"Why do you say that?" she asked with less interest than what would have been polite, but Grave with his own sense of courtesy didn't seem to notice. Joselyn was grateful for that; it was too early to be polite.

"Because you did something violent to your roommate, I don't know if they're _snottier_than they let on but they're definitely less understanding," Grave seemed to have nothing else to say about it, like he didn't want it to become another conversation. "Alright, I'm tired, going back to bed."

"He'll be in better spirits later," he whispered matter-of-fact, "Me too."

"Yeah," she agreed and gladly followed the roommates back to their dorm.

**Remembering Sir Almasy**

The group had been doing this for a long time now. To begin with it was Rinoas idea. Right after Squall -reluctantly—accepted the Headmaster position, she made him look up the times the lunch crew started their day. Since then they have snuck in an hour or two early once a month to catch up with one another.

By the time Quistis made it to her friends they were already digging in. Squalls toast was mostly black and from look on his face had more butter on it than he meant to use. He didn't look like he wanted to talk but this just provoked Quistis to question him. She picked out a sharp knife and a few naval oranges and readied herself for any scowl he might answer her with.

She hesitated a moment, Rinoa had opened her mouth for a moment to say something but closed it quickly. She wore her white lab coat even now; it seemed it had replaced her blue duster since she got the job.

Quistis took a deep breath –a little too dramatically—to catch everyone's attention.

"What's on your mind Squall?" Quistis's sounded like a mother asking her son how his day of school went.

"...Well," and Squalls tone completed the parody, "I don't know if I want to tell you guys yet, I don't know what's going to come of it." Squall sat down on the counter in front of the microwave. No one would use it, he knew what his friends ate for breakfast and no one ever ate anything hot.

"What is it?" Zell said, his voices muffled by the hot dogs he was eating cold, right out of the bag.

"I just had a couple of weird dreams... he was in them." Squall took a breath before the last part of his sentence. Everyone knew who Squall meant by 'he.'

The group fell awkwardly silent. Squall took a deep breath and began.

"In yesterday's dream I was sitting at the bar in Timber and I watched myself, Selphie and Zell deal with that drunken guy the same way we did those years ago. But before we left Zell was looking around and he saw Seifer and Quistis," his name came out sounding wrong, like he had just that morning learned how to pronounce it.

He was about to go on the way the dream had but, in the nick of time thought better of it. The group looked at him intently and Quistis looked a little worried. Quickly he thought of a decent lie.

"-were drinking together at one of the tables. Seifer and Quistis looked at Zell and froze then I watched myself notice all of this and I reassured Zell that everything was going to happen the way it really happened and to not worry," Squall took a very large bite of toast hoping that he'd get to be quiet for a moment.

No one thought much of the dream itself but something stiffened in all of them at the mention of Seifer. They'd all had their own bouts with Seifer sans Irvine, and none of them had really been resolved. They'd heard little, and asked just as much from Fujin and Raijin about him. They never used his name anymore.

Not a single day went by for three years when none of them would think about him.

And moments ago Squall became the first one to utter his name since the Second sorceress war.

It was Rinoa who broke the silence.

"We never talk about him," Rinoa said quietly, like she was worried someone would hit her if she said it too loud.

"Ever since Fujin and Raijin told us about him and Fishermen Horizon we've found nothing," Quistis wasn't eating her food, she felt too hopeless to eat anything at the moment.

_We haven't looked._ Squall thought. He took another bite of his toast and pretended to listen. He was regretting starting this; he didn't want to talk about Seifer. He always thought that if anyone ever talked about him again it would be under different circumstances; like someone would leaf through the obituaries and see his face, or if he showed up again to announce the fakeness of his death.

"I don't want to talk about that guy," Zell said sounding much like his childhood self from the orphanage.

"Then you'll have to listen or leave 'cause I think those two are on a roll," he pointed with two fingers to Quistis and Rinoa. Zell grunted, not only at Irvines comment but his choice of food. As far as Zell was concerned beans were gross, and it was an atrocity before Hyne to mix them with his beloved hot dogs.

"I wonder where he is," Selphie said purely out of the desire to be a part of the conversation.

"Prison hopefully," everyone looked at him, "What? I don't want him dead but something's gotta be done to the guy," Zell started eating faster; everyone else looked at their shoes.

"If he were incarcerated then we'd have to be informed, if he's still alive then we still have custody issues with him," Squall said suddenly sounding more like a headmaster than he did when he was working.

Quistis stirred a little and almost dropped her orange slices.

'If he's still alive' sure, she thought he'd hint at his death being possible but she didn't think he'd outright say it. No one but her seemed to be phased by this notion.

As terrible as he had been, none of them wanted him to die, but like Zell said, they wanted him at least punished.

"Didn't he kill a lot of people," Selphie asked sounding childlike as usual.

"Well, there are rumors that he fought with the soldiers he commanded but I never saw him fight anybody but us. I don't think he did that... in fact I know he didn't fight with the Galbadian soldiers because he would have thought it was beneath him," Squall said matter-of-fact.

"Yeah, you're right," said Zell.

"Probably," Selphie said sounding almost parrot-like.

The group fell very silent again. Squall felt a little smaller now because he was sure he'd ruined everyone's appetite. He was thinking about speaking up again but Quistis beat him to it.

"I always thought he'd come back here," nobody said anything but Squall and Rinoa looked to Quistis as she spoke, "With all the wanted signs and such all over the world, the only places he could would be Fisherman Horizon…" she gestured with her hand and smiled a little, "or the Shumi Village," she said that like the impossibility it was.

Everyone else smiled a little at that and gave up when they tried to suppress their laughter. Even Zell was smiling at the image of Seifer wearing one of their ceremonial robes, chiseling away at a Laguna statue with a bitter scowl on his forehead. Zell was the only one picturing him accidentally chiseling his hand however.

"But besides those places he wouldn't have anywhere else. And I'm sure Fujin and Raijin would try to get on our good sides about him," she added with something akin to confidence.

"Ha, ha, ha" Zell said being ignored.

Things had picked up for some reason, it was an uneasy chipper-ness but they enjoyed it anyway.

"What was your other dream _Darling_?" Rinoa asked eagerly, drawing out her 'darling' enough to tighten his stomach the way an executioner must tie a noose.

Squall looked a little annoyed at Rinoa for a moment but he answered her anyway.

"The second one was this morning, and it was a lot weirder. Quistis, Rinoa, Selphie, you three were little girls and Matron was taking care of you in a red mansion." They looked to one another, "Seifer was a boy, and he looked really beaten up, he told you a Geezard stole his cupcake, and then the Geezard came in and bit his foot, so he killed it with a toy dump truck."

Everyone laughed a little bit at the last part and Squall decided to stop there too. Quistis might not like to hear their displays of... affection he'd dreamed of, at least not in front of the others. Maybe he could call her into the office later and tell her, probably not though, it wasn't really important.

As angry as she was at Seifer, Quistis wanted him to come home. Since he left there was something missing and this ectoplasm unmistakably belonged to him. There was a certain kind of excitement to breaking him and Squall apart that she couldn't have with anything else. Besides Ellone -who visited the Garden often—he was the only member of their orphanage gang missing. Rinoa was with them now but she was more like a replacement of Ellone –with privileges for Squall—than she was of Seifer. With an arrogant demeanor and seemingly sadistic personality he was the only one who'd be able to fill his own space.

Quistis shook her head, he was gone, and she'd get used to it. At least she didn't have to put up with his insults this way.

_(__Three years wasn't long enough to get used to it?__)_ _Save it brain, you'll have work to do later_. Quistis looked a little distracted when these thoughts came but her friends weren't paying any attention.

Surprisingly they felt better, they hadn't been aware how suppressed they felt until they talked about him. Their stomachs and their brains felt lifted and clearer, they were a little more at ease, and that would help them forget him.

They finished their food and left to their own businesses without another word of Sir Almasy.

**Late for Class**

Joselyn is back on Cody's bed dozing unlike anything else I've ever seen. She's still wearing all of her clothes, she's lying on her stomach, one arm is draped off the bed and her mouth is open -her tongue isn't hanging out but I can see it. She looks so uncivilized right now.

Yet she still manages to look prettier than anything else I've ever seen...

…I'm blaming my hormones on that thought.

Joselyn and I went back to bed after breakfast but Cody didn't study for the test today so he spent the rest of the morning in the library. He's probably in class by now. Meanwhile I overslept and Joselyn doesn't look ready to get up anytime soon. Too bad, we've got to go right now, and I know just the way.

I walk to the bed side and kneel for a moment before I wake her. This must be what Tucker did. Had she been awake when he did... whatever it is he did than she would have had him under control, and not acted quickly and run away like Cody said she did.

I rub her back to wake her up; I always thought this would be better than shaking somebody.

"Joselyn, wake up we have to go to class," her eyes open but slowly, like she was just resting and not asleep at all.

"Hey Grave, what is it?" she asks lazily, looking a bit too angelic.

"We have to go to class," her eyes shoot open and she sits up ramrod straight.

"SHIT," She shouts, I roll backwards to the other side of the small room.

"Don't worry," I say standing back as she jumps off the bed and paces frantically back and forth.

"Don't worry? Don't worry! This is my first day of classes here and I'm late already, I didn't think this would happen for a couple more days, or a week at the latest, but not the FIRST day!" I wait until she stops pacing and I approach her and rub her shoulders. Hope I'm doing this right; I don't get the privilege of touching people very often.

"Don't worry," I kneed into her muscles a little deeper and she seems to relax, guess I am doing this right. "This doesn't go on your permanent record here or anything, you'll just aggravate your first period teacher a little today. Come on, let's go," I lean on the doorway and wait while she ties her boots.

"You know the worst part of all this don't you?" she says while leaning over her boots.

"Pray tell what that might be," I ask and try to suspend myself in the doorway with my feet on one side and my back against the other.

"When we go out there someone is gong to notice us and escort us to our classes and announce to the whole class that we were late, it's going to be embarrassing," she finishes tying her boots.

I know what she's talking about. I had to endure that childish bullshit too often back in

G-Garden. There was one instructor there who was not too fond of me and loved to bring me to my classes and make that pointless announcement. Sometimes he'd even wait for me after class and repeat the process for the next period.

I always wanted to strangle that guy.

I think this custom doesn't work the way they mean it to. The staffs want us to be on time for class all the time but by doing this they only make us try not to get caught, tardiness never lessens not matter what they do. But thanks to my years in B-Garden working with Quistis I've managed to perfect the art of dodging hall idiots.

"Thatyou won't have to worry about." Then I whisper, "Silence," I wave my fingers in her direction and mutter the spells name when she's not paying attention.

"Why not…?" she stops talking abruptly, not of her own accord and keeps trying to talk. She looks awfully frantic until she looks at me. I must be grinning because she does not look happy by any means.

"Little known fact about certain spells is they ferment, Silence is one of them." I drop from the doorway and approach her to explain myself, "that is what you were thinking right?" she gives me a look could leave my testicles frozen and shattered, and she nods.

"Good. Silence is an especially cool spell when it ages because the effect spreads beyond the vocal cords. Your whole body loses the ability to make sound –try clapping," she does and is alarmed when not a sound is made.

Science is fun.

"Cool huh?" she doesn't look very happy, "don't worry, I have a couple of Echo Screens, we'll be fine. Now, the only problem is that although we won't make any noise, but other things still will, like our footsteps still make noise because of our shoes, which is why we need to float too –Float." I shake my casting arm a little bit. Spell casting leaves the appendage you cast with somewhat weak and very, very tingly.

I've heard of –and seen—cases of over-casting where people have lost the use of their arms which ultimately have to be amputated. I'm not worried about this because I'm not much of a caster, but when I do this I always have to be careful.

"So, what's your opinion on President Caraways political agenda?" she drops her gaze down a few dozen degrees and I'm starting to think she actually does have an opinion about that. She mouths 'jack ass' and swipes at me, but I back away watch her involuntary somersault, apparently she forgot she was floating.

"All right you'll have to push yourself between the walls and everything 'cause there's no other way to move while floating," she nods and pretends like she's not agitated anymore. Without wasting anymore time I cast the spells on myself and we're out the door.

I admit I enjoy doing this; I've even been late to some classes on purpose just so I could do this. Life's too short anyway, you have to break some rules and have fun. I don't know what it's like to fly, the way birds do I mean, but this must be very close. It's really a pity I was born without wings, because this really is fun, and I live for entertainment.

Nobody else is here right now. The junior class-men are still asleep and most of the other cadets are in class. We push off between the walls hovering inches above the floor. This is far from hard but I'm a little surprised that Joselyn is following so well, considering how clumsy she was back in the dorm.

We make it out of the dorm area and slow down, nobody guards there so we don't have to worry yet, but with the PesticidEs guarding the other areas it's hard to tell if their eyes are open or not. I assume the previous times I did this they were because I've never been caught floating to class.

We duck low and pass the Cafeteria without incident and hurry, bounce between the railing and the potted plants by the Infirmary, I get through the Quad without a problem, I keep going but don't see Joselyn, I turn back and she's still in the process of passing the Quad. She almost pushed herself directly into the Quad but catches herself in time. Absently I thank myself for not going the other way around this time. Shield stopped me yesterday so it was probably best that I avoided him for this. Other PesticidE's seem oblivious to this activity and for that I'm thankful, perhaps their sleeping standing up or just resting their eyes behind those goggles.

We glide up the stairs and to the elevator. Joselyn winces visibly when it belts out that perky ding sound and I don't blame her, I did the same thing when I did this the first time. Thought every guard in the Garden was going to leap out of the bushes and catch me for try to sneak into class late.

We push out of the elevator and make it all they way down the hall. I stop Joselyn and hand her the Echo Screen. We open the bottles, clink them together, I mouth 'cheers' which earns me one of her smiles –she has a lovely smile…-and we down every drop.

"Uh, man I hate these," she goes into a coughing fit and I need to pat her back a few times, "Thanks," she clears her throat and smirks at me again, I think I'm getting far too used to that.

"You're welcome," I whisper, "dispel," she hits the floor more suddenly than she wanted to and leans against the wall for support.

"Thanks for the warning," I grin at her, "hey."

"Dispel, what?" I say against the sound my boots make plopping on the marble.

"Why do you always whisper spells like that?" she straightened herself out and brushes some of her hair to the side.

"Well, contrary to whatever Instructor Trepe tells you, it doesn't matter how loud or quietly you announce a spell, the effect won't change." I wiggle and rub my casting arm a bit more; clearly I was not meant to be a magic user.

"Oh, right that," she gets up "Well, thanks that was kinda fun," she smiles again and I somehow feel a little redeemed. I wonder if that's what she means.

"Anytime, oh, don't worry about the guards here. There's one guy who usually does this general area of classrooms and he won't care if you're late. He pays special attention to Instructor Trepes room anyway"

"Okay, well, thanks again Grave. I'll see you later," she says that quickly and dashes through the halls to her first class.

"Yeah," she can't hear me by now, she's long gone. I myself stand in the hall for a few more minutes and contemplate the new girl. Is it really so easy to be redeemed to her, or is she hiding fear or something else from me?

I sigh and start to my first class; I don't think I will ever understand women my age.

_**EG**_

…A few hours later…

This was one of Saviors favorite part of the day, lying in bed after waking. He could do it for hours; he loved the feeling of energy remaining still in his body, not yet active as if it were stiff. Of course he didn't think of it that way, he just knew that if he ceased all movement the moment he awoke he wouldn't regret it.

It was nice to be peaceful for once. No obligations yet, no Xu mouthing off at him, no monitoring the students for things they would never do out of private, no alarm clock…

No alarm clock?

No alarm clock!

Savior bolted out of bed and picked up his clock.

"I'm fucking late!" he exclaimed already half way out of bed.

He lashed about his room for his clothes and uniform like an intoxicated lemur having not woken up completely. When he finally had his helmet and weapon on straight he slammed his door open only to be hindered by Xu.

Xu stood straight with her arms crossed, she was wearing her old uniform including the short skirt and the yellow thing around her neck -he didn't know what it was called. He would have been aroused if not for the pissy look on her face.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me up woman?" his scream comes out comical through the accent filtering device in his helmet and is only more amusing when he flails his arms every which way.

"It's not my job to make sure that you're on time for your appointments," she said matter-of-factly, her stance regal and imperious; this was her favorite stance to take when arguing with Savior. Xu's sense of superiority was not by any means arrogance, it wasn't even pride. But there was something about crossing her arms before her opposition that always won her arguments for her.

"Your job, you don't have a job if you're spending your time standing outside my door waiting for me to come out!" he continues making exclaiming gestures with his arms but his voice is quieter now and not quite as amusing.

But Xu was still cracking up inside.

"I was supposed to inform you that Quistis needs you in her classroom early today, she has something she wants to say to you so," she looked at her watch, "you're going to have to hurry if you want to get there a half hour ago," she looked up at him and gave her bitch smile, two closed eyes and a grin that was barely sealed by her lips.

"You've been standing here for the last two hours?" He shouts. She must be lying, that's a level of stupid bitchiness even she can't be capable of. "You wanted me to be late," Savior stopped movement altogether and just decided to wait for Xu to leave so he could go to Quistis's classroom.

Xu said nothing and walked to her office. Savior just sighed, muttering that Xu was a bitch and wondering if she could hear him somehow. Savior counted his blessings on one hand before he went to the elevator and prepared himself for a guilt trip from Quistis.

_**EG**_

Joselyn was running as fast as she could. She had made it to her other classes on time but it looked like she wasn't going to make it to Instructor Trepes Special Skills class on time. She went through so much trouble to get there it was ridiculous; first her last class ran late, then she needed to find the elevator again, then she had to find the stairs because the elevator wasn't working –she couldn't believe B-Garden even had stairs, she doubted that a lot of the students even knew about them—and now she was galloping like an antelope, not even looking where she was going.

She could imagine Grave now giving her that arrogant look. The one he gave her that morning right before he'd mock her. It was amazing how a person so insecure about himself could have such a sly grin. But more than him she had to worry about the PesticidE Grave had told her about, the one who paid special attention to Quistis' class. He would no doubt have some shit to give her for being so late.

Joselyn wasn't looking where she was going, she was running so fast that the wind was hurting her eyes so she wasn't looking straight ahead, she instead looked at the floor under her and tried to make a pattern out of the blurs… when she crashed abruptly into two other figures.

She fell directly onto her ass and shouted a curse that could've made the plants rustle. Then she almost cracked a grin when she saw Grave lying on the floor in front of her, cradling his head in one hand.

"Why don't you watch where you're…" it was now he noticed her, "oh, hey Joselyn," he looked very unimpressed for some reason.

"Hey, Grave," she grinned hard, trying to grin they way he had to her that morning, but judging by the unwavering look of indifference on Grave's face she was probably just looking weird.

"What are you doing out of class?" came another voice, this one reminding her of a sci-fi B-movie she had seen once.

Joselyn looked to her left at the other figure she ran into. He sat on the floor with them, and he was clearly one of the PesticidE. Although he was sitting down Joselyn to tell that he was taller then most of them, and he had a distinguishing mark on his helmet; where his left goggle belonged there was just a messy looking smear of plastic. The remaining goggle was still broad though so she couldn't tell if he was looking at her or Grave. Grave spoke before Joselyn could.

"Apparently we were on our way to be late for Quistis' class, what about you?" he asked incredulously.

"…Fine, I admit it, I over slept." Grave was alarmed by his honesty but not as much as Joselyn, who was visibly alarmed.

"That's never happened before, has it?" he asked suspiciously.

"I'm not going to answer that," his voice would have sounded bothered if not for the device that made all PesticidE's sound like a bees nest.

Joselyns mouth was gaping, never had she seen an authority figure who said things like this.

"We're all going to Quistis' class right?" said Grave and the other two nodded, Joselyns mouth remained agape. "Then let's just pretend this didn't happen and go to class."

"Agreed," the two looked at Joselyn, who closed her jaw immediately from embarrassment.

"Yeah…" she said timidly and scooped herself up.

The three stood up, brushed themselves off and left for the classroom in silence, Joselyn wondering all the while if Savior was looking at her out of his single goggle.

_**EG**_

The music in Fujin and Raijins room couldn't be heard in the hallways or in the neighboring dorms. They were courteous enough to keep the volume at a satisfactory level without being obnoxious. Selphie didn't even know there was music until Raijin opened the door for her.

"Hi Raijin, I've got the schedules for you and Fujin hear –ooh who's this?" upon handing the schedules to Raijin Selphie quite literally, _trotted_ in the direction of the CD player.

"Why don't you come in ya know?" said he for humors sake.

Selphie, a woman most often considerate of others was now ignoring Raijin and Fujin once she came out of the bathroom.

"SELPHIE, WHAT?" she belted out whilst still being ignored.

"Who is this?" Selphie seemed to be looking for something around the CD player, most likely the CD case.

"Black Blood Vessel ya know? They're new," he gestured a gesture that went unnoticed by Selphie who looked like she meant to pilfer their entire desk.

"SCHEDULE?" Fujin asked impatiently. She tapped her foot and crossed arms, yet another gesture ignored by Selphie.

"What, oh Raijin has that," Selphie continued grubbing around the same general area until she found a dark CD case. The imagery on the front cover was numerous dark ribbons of many colors making the shape of a picture frame; inside that was a picture of the five band members, the singer was most noticeable due to a facial deformation. Selphie looked at the back of the case.

" , figures, thanks you two, bye!" Selphie left without giving them a chance to say anymore.

"I swear I saw her using coffee with her cereal yesterday," Raijin kept his eye on the door even after Selphie left, like he thought she would actually come back and steal something from them.

"You did not" Fujin slung her weapon over her shoulder and left for the training center.

_**EG**_

Fujin wandered through the training center like she always did. Her job was most eventful like everyday. Ever since the destruction of the original Trabian and Galbadian Gardens the obligation to accommodate the surviving students and staff members fell on B-Garden.

Because of this, Fujins new occupation in the Garden was to keep the casualties in the training center down. She was the aegis.

Fujin stopped for a moment and stood out of view and harms way. There was a student fighting grats. He looked young and inexperienced. In fact he was shameful, awfully shameful for the end of the semester. He was going to lose, Fujin could tell already. His skill couldn't outmatch the hunger of his foes, but she couldn't interfere yet, the boy had to learn, you could never learn if you didn't make mistakes. That was Fujins conviction.

Fujin was an expert after two and a half years of watching the young ones. Most often she was not noticed; in fact the monsters noticed her more than the students did. But that was because the monsters identified by smell and by now her distinct scent was second nature to them. The students that were aware of her had learned to ignore her, as if she was just another shadow under the trees she hid behind. Because Fujin was selective about her moments, the moments she chose to interfere. Because she wouldn't be with them on the real battlefield most likely, they had to rely on themselves and others. Fujin would not save the cadets unless if they were threatened by death, no exceptions, she even allowed serious injuries to prove her point.

Now was one of those moments, perhaps one of those serious injuries also.

Fujin watched as the boy tripped into his enemy's tangles and when he struggled, couldn't move anymore she interrupted. She slid out of the trees into the sight of the enemy and held out one hand, a shuriken much smaller than the one on her back slid out of her sleeve and seemed to propel itself from her wrist. The Grat was holding the boy by the legs, above what might have been its head and the shuriken passed through its body the way a tire rim passes through a pillow in a tornado.

The Grat dropped the boy and hit the ground at the same time. The cadet didn't even take notice of Fujin; he just picked himself up and escaped the training center.

It wasn't often someone thanked her for her work.

There was a part of her that didn't want to save the kid, and she knew what part it was. That bit of arrogant reasoning that Seifer left with her. He was a man who left his mark on you, one way or another. His gift to her was the way she considered the lives of others. With that it was a wonder she had this job. She almost didn't save that kid because Seifer would have considered him no asset to Garden, that a casualty like him was no loss; would probably just end up a bum, or worse, an Instructor.

Fujin laughed quietly to herself; Seifer had never liked any Instructor.

There was something that Fujin liked to do when nobody was around and looked like she was in luck. She remembered that classes were happening at this time which was why she was alone with the monsters now, but it rose to question why that kid had been there. She shook her head of that, that child skipping class was trivial, and probably in more ways than one.

Fujin first inspected the carcass of the Grat and she smiled at her handy work. The shuriken had gone through the creature leaving a distinct impression in the animal. The hole was large and horizontal on the body; shred marks like a swirling artichoke heart, the green blood couldn't ooze as superfluously as normal since its flesh of the wound was plastered against itself, allowing only trickles of blood to seep out. It looked like a lawn mover had gone off inside it. Fujin was proud of her Shuriken skills, and she knew that Seifer would have been too.

She collected her now gross shuriken and held it between thumb and forefinger like it was one of Raijins socks. She went to the secret area –or as Seifer had once called it the 'not so secret area'—which still overlooked the sea even after the transformation. It looked dull to Fujin as it always did; perhaps it was beautiful to other people but Fujin was unimpressed by large bodies of water. At least in the daytime, when night came the ocean would be beautiful, but now she could be looking like a sink filled with grimy dishwater and she would be equally pleased.

Fujin looked out on the water and looked to the other side of the balcony to picture her imaginary Seifer. She imagined him as he was before the Second sorceress war, still a proud rascal who loved to use his height advantage to keep the shorter students from their possessions. Before he was broken by Ultimecia, every bit of pride wrung from him. He really was bitter towards her and Raijin sometimes after the war, because they left him, because she spoke normally the way she spoke only for the two men in her life in front of the 'heroes'. But she had exaggerated when reporting to Headmaster Squall, she understood that B-Garden still had issues with him and she wanted him protected.

The imaginary Seifer spoke, "I don't need to be protected Fu, I can protect myself just fine," he gestured dismissively and looked out on a different section of ocean.

"I'm just looking out for you Seifer. That's what friends are form," Fujin said to justify herself, even though it was stupid to do that for helping him, but that was the way he was.

"Yeah, I guess so" he said that obviously to drop the subject, Seifer had always had trouble talking about friendship. You were either somebody's friend or you weren't, it was that simple.

What bothered Fujin about doing this was there were awkward silences, which didn't say much for her imagination. It was rather embarrassing when your imaginary friend was bored by you. But then Fujin had never been good with other people, even if they were her friends. Maybe that cluelessness was what held their friendship together.

"I thought you hated pity parties," he said breaking the silence for her which was kind of him since it was usually Fujin who had to do it.

"This is not a pity party I just wanted to talk," she explained, trying hard to be convincing.

"So talk, I won't stop you," he sounded careless, at least her imagination was right on the money with his behavior.

Fujin wasn't very happy with today's session but this was how Seifer spoke and she knew it. It wasn't exactly the same experience if his speech was inauthentic.

"Do you remember the orphanage?" Fujin said leaning on the rail.

"Of course I do. I lived there for…" he counted on his fingers dubiously, "a long time," he settled on. Fujin smiled.

"After the others left was when Raijin and I came. Do you remember that?" she didn't look at him, if she looked at him she'd lose her concentration and her apparition would vanish, and she wasn't finished talking yet.

"Yeah, yeah, of course I remember, you're making me do it," Fujin sighed and asked herself quickly why she was doing this, but Seifer interrupted her thoughts again and made her keep talking.

"We always went to the lighthouse when Raijin and the Kramers went to sleep. You'd always try to wake him up so he'd come too but he was like a log. So you were stuck with me, alone with the girl," she said that a little happily and even smiled, but her tone betrayed that with a sense of inferiority to accent it. She only felt it when she was with him, apparition or not.

"I was not afraid of you," he said defensively.

"I know; you were just uncomfortable alone with me. Even after we grew up," she did not move and her tone remained unchanged.

"That's not true," he said trying to be nice now.

Fujin knew he probably would've used a harsher tone but little differences like that was okay. She was trying to comfort herself after all.

"Yes you were, you always wanted Raijin to come with us wherever we went, and if he had to do something without us like take a piss you'd become quiet and avoid eye contact with me."

"Now wait just a…"

And he was gone. Fujin decided to cut this one short because she was having trouble with making a nice Seifer at the time. Usually the fantasies ended with a handshake or even a hug. But Fujin was ironically, realistic about her fantasies. Today she didn't see a hug or a handshake coming. Sometimes Fujin wished she could be like a Raijin when it came to Seifer; he was so sure he was coming back, and Fujin wanted to believe it too. But Fujin was realistic about everything, even fantasy, and she knew Seifer wasn't ever coming back.

Fujin left the secret area and finished what would be the most boring guard duty of her career.

_**EG**_

Cody is nudging Joselyn awake for the seventh time now. It is truly incredible how much time that girl spends sleeping. We are sitting in the back row of Quistis's class; we have each selected the seats closest to the aisle. I don't think that Joselyn is bored by the class though; I believe that she just didn't get enough sleep last night.

I have no trouble hanging on Quistis's words regardless of how attractive she is to me. I'm usually distracted by beauty but Quistis is different somehow. I know… I know what it is; it's because she behaves so differently when she teaches. Perhaps she has an 'Instructor Mode' that she turns on when she's in the classroom. She forgets about everything but the subject matter and what she has to work with, she's in her own world except that she maintains a profound connection with the rest of the world. Her Focus on the students and even the time remaining is incredible. That was one of the most fascinating things about her tutoring because there was no time limit then. We suffer from insomnia when we have work to do so we didn't even sleep, I watched Quistis being 'On' as it were for many hours and it was very inspirational. I have found that I have the same capacity.

It really allows you to stop thinking about yourself.

"Alright class who can tell me how one obtains a Special Skill?" Quistis asked perched on the front of her desk, wearing her glasses on the tip of her nose looking every bit the part of the teacher.

The room has suddenly fallen mostly silent, and after a moment the silence is complete when a pair of students having their own conversation shut their mouths. Now, to my embarrassment many of the students are looking at me now.

"I know that Grave knows the answer but he's not going to answer it because he already answers too many questions, I wouldn't be much of a teacher if I confirmed the memory of only one of my students." She says this like she has said it before and has grown sick of it. Someone who knows Quistis would know she discovered her own conviction the hard way. She massages her temples and pushes her glasses further on her nose.

I feel like an outcast once again now that it has been called attention to –once again—that I always know the answers. I can't help it if my short term memory is better than average. Quistis sighs again –she has sighed many times today—and stands up crossing her arms as if to guard herself as if the stupidity of certain students has become a contagious air born virus. Then she repeats from the Special Skill handbook very much the way it is written.

"A Special skill is obtained by harbouring a Guardian Force for three years. The number of years sometimes varies, it can take up to five years but there have been two year cases recorded a few times," she looks to Cody, "Cody, can you tell me the theory of a G.F.'s link to Special Skills?" Cody shrugs his shoulders and smiles broadly, and I don't miss the look Joselyn gives him. Quistis is visibly forcing another one of her sighs down her throat.

"It is theorized by B-Gardens own retired Headmaster Cid Kramer that when a G.F. explores your brain they discover unique energy in you. Something that is most often akin to magic that is locked away inside us. The G.F.'s unlock our Special Skills and make them known to us," she looks to one of the many students who I am not aquainted with and gives her a look if I am not mistaken, threatens her well being. Quistis does not usually get like this, but today is a very bad day for class apparently.

Quistis must be dying of embarrassment inside; she is literally repeating what she said just ten minutes ago, she is repeating it all word for word. She's even looking at all the same students it's actually kind of frightening.

"Clisa, what percent of Special Skills are unique?" Quistis's posture and facial expression remain stone-like where the student looks so intimidated she might fall out of her chair. If she passes the written exam then I pity her captain, and if she is the captain then I pity her subordinates. She has no answer, and Quistis at this point has an equal amount of patience. It's definitely a good thing that class will be out soon.

"Fifty Clisa, fifty percent of Special Skills are true to their title as 'special.'" Quistis is clearly resisting the urge to insinuate that Clisa herself is 'Special' but she doesn't really have it in her, or maybe those are just my thoughts. Quistis sighs once again and heads to her desk, and the bizarre sound that has replaced the bell sounds just as she sits down.

Everyone but the Trepies, Quistis, Joselyn and I bolt out of their chairs and leave the room in moments. Cody waves us a good-bye since he is in a hurry to get to his next class. He has this eagerness to learn that just doesn't sit well with me, but he's still a good friend so I forgive him for it.

"Grave, Joselyn I want to talk to you two." Joselyn looks at me questioningly but I have to shrug. We approach the desk together. Quistis is reading what looks like a novel but puts it down once we're in front of her desk. Joselyn looks very disinterested but continues to listen to her. She's almost sneering and the Trepies apparently noticed because their giving her a very dirty look.

"I'm sorry for not asking this morning but how are your scars?" she looks at us in turn above her spectacles.

"Its fine now, but it itches all the time," Joselyn says scratching her lower back reminded of it. The pang of guilt I thought I'd feel in my stomach is absent, go figure.

"I'm the same." I sound and probably look equally indifferent but I don't scratch my scar, it seems somehow embarrassing to do in public for some reason.

"Well I'm glad, oh, and Joselyn," Quistis rolls her chair back and takes an envelope out of her drawer, "enclosed is your new room number," she he hands it to Joselyn who puts it in her jacket pocket without a thought.

"Is that all Quistis?" I shift my weight onto one leg and resist the urge to tap my feet. Speculating Joselyn's stance I'd say she's fighting the same urge.

"Yes that will be all, I'll see you tomorrow," Quistis rolls her chair back to her desk and begins to read the book again and Joselyn and I leave the room together.

I'm not going to ask her to open the envelope but I'm more than a little curious. I've known this girl for a day and a half but there's already something about her that sticks with me. Her personality and forgiveness are very attractive and she leaves a scent behind her that smells cold and sweet, like Winterfresh chewing gum. She looks at me a little uncomfortably and I quickly notice that I'm walking very close to her. I also blush very quickly and curse my pale skin, damn this dermis of mine. I move away from her and before I know it she's walking closely to me and smiling like she did earlier, before she had breakfast, before I insinuated that she was a bitch.

I felt it then, that pang of guilt.

**Lonely Libidos**

…a few hours later than that…

It was late and Joselyn didn't want to move into a new room. She didn't want to continue staying in her old room but that was for a different reason, she was just really tired, so tired she considered setting her boxes down and sleeping in the hallway. But she trudged on, walking like she was knee deep in thick clay for all the effort she was putting into her movement.

She took one of her arms from the boxes she carried and balanced them on her hip. She pulled the envelope out of her pocket and tried to open it with one hand with disappointing results. She released a sigh not unlike the ones Instructor Trepe had used that afternoon. She set her boxes down and opened the envelope and noted the number 056 printed on the paper.

Joselyn picked up the boxes again and followed the numbers on the doors down the hallway. She was in the forty's by the time she noticed a red ball in one of the doorways. She would have been tempted to kick it had she held more energy in her body.

Joselyn stopped when she found the door marked with the appropriate number and held the boxes on one elevated leg while she knocked on the door. When the sound of footsteps approached from the inside, Joselyn noticed the crooked looking six and swore she'd seen it somewhere before.

It dawned on her just as Grave opened the door and when he saw the look on her face he was insulted and it showed. The only thing redeeming the girl was how obscure she looked at that moment.

Joselyns face softened and she righted her balance by putting her other arm around the boxes again and standing on both legs. Grave had chosen to greet her in a pair of boxers and suddenly they both wished they hadn't, because now Joselyn could see her handiwork. She felt about an ounce of regret in her belly when she saw it.

Joselyn didn't fully realize until now the kind of injury she had given him. The scar was diagonal across his chest she knew that much when she cut him, but in her glory she forgot about how long and deep the cut had been. It began at his right hip bone, and then formed a perfectly straight line to the far left end of his left clavicle. The scar was a very dark pink, almost red. Some unidentified emotion, or possibly an entity located on one of her shoulders was telling her to take off her gloves and touch it but she resisted.

"Is this room 056?" she asked surprised and feeling a touch stupid. Grave just stared and one of his eyes looked like it wanted to twitch. He nodded and walked back into the room a little uninvitingly, but he didn't close the door so she went in.

Joselyn entered what was once Cody's room somehow felt like an invader. Although the room was empty this wasn't meant to be her room. The energy in this dorm was different from the other one, it was less inviting and yet, she felt she could bare this room with more ease. It was more comfortable here even though it was essentially the same room.

She set down her boxes and made sure that Grave wasn't looking before she stripped down to her underwear.

"So where'd Cody go?" she asked taking off her jacket and tossing it on top the pile of boxes. She watched the door for Grave but was too lazy to actually go to the door and close it.

"Cody is with Tucker now, the poor bastard," he said from the main room sounding a little distracted.

"He can handle it though can't he? 'Cause I can't muster up the patience to room with that guy anymore," she was hopping on one leg now trying to remove her jeans; this was the bane of wearing tight pants she thought.

"Yeah, Cody gets along with everybody, even Tucker." He said still out of sight, perhaps he knew she was changing and wanted to be polite?

"He is a braver soldier than we," she was down to her underwear and socks at this point and un-braiding her hair when she decided she still wanted to talk. She looked down at herself and thought about how inappropriate it might be, but then again Grave did confront her in his underwear, she could do the same.

Joselyn crossed her arms over her stomach and peeked out of her dorm to see what he was doing. He was reading, and from the looks of the book it wouldn't interest her in the least bit. She approached him anyway and peered over his shoulder too closely for his comfort. Joselyn started reading the page Grave was on and Grave slowly pivoted his head I the direction of her face. Some of her hair had fallen on his shoulder and his arm; it was soft the way clouds might feel. She read on more not noticing he was looking at her and his eyelids slid halfway shut when the smell of ice and sugary mint found its way into his nostrils. He smelled carefully and deeply so she might not notice and turned his head away before he exhaled.

"Anatomy of the T-Rexaur hmm," he said sounding like she was faking her curiosity.

Apparently she hadn't noticed he had smelled her, good, he didn't want her to notice that.

Joselyn walked around Grave and scanned the titles and covers of the books on the table. All were anatomy books of monsters. She would have thought that it was homework but there was no notebook on the table and neither was there anything to indicate that he was doing homework. He was reading these for pleasure? Did he actually commit this information to memory?

"Why are you reading anatomy books?" she asked then frowned when she saw the book designated for Grendels.

"I like to know my enemy," he said simply and said no more. Joselyn felt awkward standing next to him in her underwear, not knowing what to say. But then she caught him looking at her, and she caught him not catching her. He muttered something under his breath but Joselyn wasn't angry, she thought she might be but she wasn't because she heard what he said. She smirked to herself inwardly and prepared for her attack.

"What did you just say?" she asked faking her incredulousness flawlessly. Grave looked up, the slightest bit of guilt he felt stood out clearly in his eyes. "Well, what did you say? Spit it out!" Grave noted before he answered that if they were ever to be sent on missions together, to designate Joselyn the team interrogator.

"I said certainly don't look like a Grendel," Joselyn smiled and rubbed on foot on the foot on the floor like it was dust on the playground.

"Thank you, no one has ever said that to me before," she continued rubbing her foot on the carpet and titled her head to one side, so the unique section of hair on her face fell across it differently, and he saw her right eye, so dark in comparison to her left one.

Grave took in the sight while he could. Here was the girl who would sleep in the same dorm as him. She was smart; she was prettier than pretty, her hair reminded him of streams of milk poured from many cartons, and here she was talking to him in her underwear and socks. His heart was beating hard enough for him to hear it; it was like someone was pounding a kick drum inside his chest. Joselyn furrowed her brows and looked around the room quickly then back to Grave.

"What's that sound? Is someone hitting a kick drum somewhere?" she asked and Grave quickly took a three deep breaths.

"Um, err, uh, maybe!" he set down the book and stood up, then stretched exaggeratedly and faked an enormous yawn. "I'm going to bed," he said and went into his room and shut the door.

Joselyn stared at the door for a while longer and then went to bed herself. Wondering until she went to sleep in their right mind would be practicing on a drum kit that late at night.

_No sex scene this issue, sorry._

_In case anyone has been reading this story and not reviewing for whatever reason I want you to set those reasons aside. I promise that I will not let any review go unread or un-replied. For me, reviews are like petting kittens or snorting pixie sticks. I can't get enough. So please review me no matter what, unless if you're just gong to be an ass in which case you can forget about it. I realize there is no France in FF8 but please bear with me._


	3. The Field Exam

_Disclaimer and A/N: Do I own it? Sure I do! I keep it on the shelf in between some nose cartilage Sylvester Stallone lost making the third Rocky film, and my genuine replica fake of the second pope's ceremonial hat. Bullshit, I don't even own a car, gimme a break. I also don't own any of the Espers from FF6 or the summons from other Final Fantasy games. Ardwynna Morrigu called attention to the way I wrote Joselyn and Grave in the last two chapters and I will say now that this story is in no way a Mary Sue or Gary Stu, I admit some of me goes into my characters but by no means is this self-insertion. Please excuse any hostility you may detect here._

_**Steve**: Thank you, I plan to continue updating every 25th but we'll have to see how that plays out. Yeah, if all goes well each chapter will be about 40 pages long, that's the plan anyway._

_**Steve**: The identity of Savior will most likely remain a secret forever._

_**Angel of Apocolypse**: Like I said to Steve about all of my chapters will be 40 some odd pages long. How do I concentrate? Well once I get started I just keep going until I'm interrupted by something like sleep or one of my cats, then I edit what I'm unsatisfied with later. And yes putting real things in Fan fiction is fun._

_**Noacat**: It means a lot to know that you appreciate my vocabulary. I know what you mean about some authors that just don't seem to care, I've read 'seen' where saw belongs and death where dead belongs and that's just cheating at scrabble god damn it. Now concerning your nitpicks; I will take into account the thing about the numbers, but the name's before speech thing will stay, sorry. IF I could get quickedit to operate then I would take your other suggestion into strong consideration, I hope that doesn't bother you too much. Your soup comment was funny, I think we need to come up with an acronym for S.O.U.P. that could mean bad grammar or something, tell me if you come up with anything. Incidentally, thank you so much for saying that this could be changed into original fiction -I can say the same thing about Purgatory- 'cause in my opinion that's the greatest compliment a fan fiction can receive, thank you._

_**Ardwynna Morrigu**: Thank you, thank you, for an answer to your nitpicks refer to Noa's reply. Your game manual comment was interesting, I had honestly not thought of that before. Again if I do a revised edition of this someday then I'll do something about that. Don't worry about feedback for regular characters; I've received good reviews about that from other people. And the reason for the capital E's in PesticidE's is mockery. Since SeeD is spelled with a capital D, and since it is never explained why their headquarters is called a Garden, I thought some mockery was in order._

_**Juusan Ikiuchi**: Thank you, thank you, thank you, I'm glad you don't mind the scriptish thing, thank you and peace out to you to._

_Scary's on the wall, scary's on his way_

_Watch where you spit, I'd advise you wait until it's over_

_And then you got hit, and you should've known better_

_And we die young_

_Faster we run_

_Down, down, down you're rollin' watch the blood flow in the muddy sewer_

_And take another hit, and bury your brother_

_And we die young_

_Faster we run_

_Scary's on the wall, scary's on his way_

_Another alley trip, bullets seek the place to bend you over_

_And then you got hit, and you should've known better_

_Faster we run_

_And we die young_

_We Die Young by Alice in Chains, don't own this song either._

**Part Three: The Field Exam**

**Last Minute Preparations**

Joselyn was pleased. Grave and Cody had gone through the trouble of bringing her to the bowels of B-Garden and it was decidedly her new favorite area. They had waited in the main area for nearly a half hour before Grave decided that the coast was clear. They used one of Graves cards in the elevator, it was a card that had more than one use but he had no idea what all of its functions were. Luckily it allowed them access to the bottom floor designated for the PesticidE's but that was not their interest, they discovered the floor board just in time and escaped the grasp of that high ranking SeeD who ran the PesticidE's… Zoo was it? Joselyn couldn't remember. But now they were in the bowels of the ship and Joselyn was enjoying the openness of the area.

Joselyn had seen the so called secret area but it was not so secret. And it was small, just a tiny balcony with a view that could only redeem itself at night, sunlight on the water had always bored Joselyn for some reason. But _this_ place, this place was a real secret.

They weren't there just for the thrill of finding a new place. There was a written test that cadets were supposed to take before they left for their field exam. It had no purpose that the three of them could think of since most of the questions had been on previous tests. But if you did poorly on them it affected the score of your field exam, and if you failed them you couldn't go at all. Perhaps it was to narrow down the amount of candidates so they could harvest the cream of the crop. But they had given up on their theories, now they were just helping each other finish their papers; they were in a hurry after all.

Joselyn was sitting on what they might have called the floor since it was the largest and most stable section of the area. In the center of it was a pillar that rotated constantly and due to what must have been gallons of oil made no sound. Cody was on another section of the same island and Grave… Grave was sitting on a very unstable rail on the stairway leading to the platform his friends were sitting on. Joselyn had earlier shown concern but he waved her concern away and she had not said a word to him since, he didn't notice. But Cody did and he was doing his best to hint to Grave to say something nice to break the dark spell, but he remained oblivious and eventually Cody gave up.

Joselyn wanted to sit upside down in one of the chairs but her cadet uniform included a skirt, and she didn't want Grave looking down her skirt, even if he had seen her in her underwear once. Joselyn wouldn't stop complaining about having to wear the skirt and Cody let her know about it, but she kept complaining how Grave got what he wanted. He had actually gone through the trouble of asking for a jacket from a larger uniform and he received it –needless to say Joselyn had made quite the face when he received it with no trouble. When Joselyn asked for a pair of pants to wear all she received was a funny look and a criminally short skirt –although to Joselyn, any skirt that can't cover your ankles is criminal.

"What's an X-ATM092?" she asked rather loudly, she thought she'd have too since her friends were far away but sound reverberated a lot in that area, if a pair of flies started talking dirty they would hear every word.

"It's either an AI operated crab-like war machine dubbed with the nickname of a spider that is best known for it's destructive efficiency and ability to distinguish it's targets from its operator, or," Grave paused, raised one finger for emphasis, "it's a brand of sex jelly."

Joselyn laughed with Cody and put down her pencil for a moment, for she knew if she kept it in her hand before she stopped laughing she would probably write down the false answer.

After a moment she picked her pencil back up and wrote down Graves first answer. But not word for word since answers that were so obviously copied would be discredited. Joselyn adjusted her skirt for the sixty-seventh time that morning and pulled one of her cigarette rations out of her jacket. She needed to smoke all of them before the battle they were destined for that afternoon, since she had an irrational fear –or that's what Grave called it—that someone with a sixth sense would locate her cigarettes with their mind and throw her out of B-Garden like the prisoner of pirates, straight into the water with the aquatic carnivores.

"Do you really need to smoke those things? 'Cause they'll ruin that pretty voice of yours," Grave said sounding more sarcastic than he felt.

Joselyn turned in his direction to scold him but was put off for a moment. He was sitting approximately twenty feet away, with his back turned. How exactly did he notice she was about to light one up? She hadn't even lit it yet; maybe if the scratch of the lighter had resonated she'd understand how he'd know…

"How exactly did you know that I was about to smoke?" Joselyn asked putting aside her scolding for later.

"It's been ten minutes, and when you have cigarettes, you light one up every ten minutes," he said simply, like the fact it was. Joselyn was alarmed; even she didn't know that about herself.

"You've been timing me?" she asked sounding as surprised as she was.

"From the first night you moved in," he scribbled something down and poked the bottom right corner of his paper with dramatic finality. "Finished," he set his paper on a small pillar by the exit and joined his friends on the larger platform.

"You're done already?" Cody asked skeptically.

"Yup, I even put down a wrong answer just for sport," he said arrogantly, and arrogant he was at that moment.

"You shouldn't do that," said Joselyn, "you can't expect Instructor Trepe to bail you out whenever you fuck around," she was being rude and she knew it, but Grave was too reckless sometimes and he needed to know that.

"Our performance today will overshadow our written scores, and besides I did the rest of the answers right. I'll be fine," he said confidently and sat down next to Joselyn to monitor her answers.

And to bug her since she didn't like it when someone read over her shoulder, and Grave did like to bug her.

"For the last time don't read over my shoulder," she demanded while writing down half of one answer then stopping.

"Why not? I let you read over my shoulder, can't you grant me the same courtesy?" he asked knowing the answer, but it was an unsatisfactory one so disobeying it was too easy.

"Just, because, okay? I like to read over people's shoulders but I don't like it when they read over mine. Got it?" she said and looked at Grave and he recoiled noticeably. Not because he was alarmed by Joselyn but because he knew of her desire to see his pupils, and examining those was a liberty _he_ would not grant _her_.

Maybe that was why, if so then he understood.

"Alright, I'll leave you alone," he sounded defeated, and to Joselyns ears a little hurt. But he bounced up and started pacing before she could say anything reassuring.

Joselyn kept her eyes on Grave until Cody noticed her, and then she looked back to her paper and finished answering the problem she had only half finished. Grave busied himself by walking around the rotating pillar, walking against its rotation only for the sake of minor rebellion. Joselyn thought this was a habit of his. Although Grave did get in trouble sometimes he was mostly a follower of the rules and when he got away with it then it was usually a dumb rule he was breaking. Or he was breaking it with good reason. But he would sometimes apply his eagerness to rebel to his fidgeting. It was strange, amusing.

Joselyn had been keeping track of his habits too and he would usually do this sort of thing when he hadn't broken a rule in a while. In fact the last time he had was two weeks ago, when he taught her the trick to float to class after sleeping in too long. Cody didn't seem to notice anything but to Joselyn it was a bad omen, today was their field exam and irresponsible behavior during a mission cut your points like a hot chainsaw through living skin. And when you were a SeeD it would cut your pay, assuming the Garden had a way of finding out. Joselyn guessed that was another purpose of the PesticidE's now that she was thinking of it.

Cody put away his pencil and folded his paper in the appropriate fashion. Apparently he was done too now, the feminist in Joselyn felt bothered that the two men she was studying with finished before her but she quickly forgot about that, she could get back at them by complaining about her skirt for the rest of the day, which was her plan from the beginning come to think of it.

Too much thinking, not enough working.

Joselyn stood up and adjusted her skirt once more, trying to maintain her five minute per adjustment quota, she shook her arms, didn't like long sleeves either. She was about to answer the last question when she looked up to her friends and saw they were looking at her, with the same, 'what's keeping you?' look in their eyes, although Grave was giving her his unpleasant smile as well. Joselyn sneered at them both to convey her message 'shut up I'll be done in a minute.' She rushed herself and scribbled the last answer as legibly as she could manage under the wordless pressure her male counterparts were putting on her.

Joselyn was sure it was mostly correct, like Graves paper she was probably missing one answer, namely the last one, but she wasn't going to admit it to him. She folded the paper and wordlessly started to the exit without them. Grave and Cody caught up and Grave picked up his paper from the catwalk before they stopped at the ladder. Joselyn was partially relieved to be leaving, not just because of the mocking aura surrounding her friends but the smell of the place was akin to dishwater and a few dead things that they didn't locate and that Joselyn refused to look for in the first place.

Grave with his infinite knowledge of monster anatomy claimed the smell was long dead Tri-Faces. He sounded very intrigued by his own knowledge and Joselyn just nodded and muttered in agreement, for if she admitted to him that she didn't know what a Tri-Face was he would launch into a damn thesis on the creature. One of the things Joselyn had known about Grave from the first day she met him was that provoking him in any way was foolish.

Upon absent inspection Joselyn discovered her judgment of Graves height was wrong. The night he apologized she'd been slouching, and he'd been wearing his boots while she hadn't, really she was a good had taller than he was. She also noted absently how interesting it was that he wasn't insecure about _that_**.**

They were at the ladder and Cody volunteered to climb first but Grave stayed and tried not to grin. Joselyn glared at him and assuming he didn't understand why she wouldn't climb first –which was impossible—she adjusted skirt again, his expression didn't change. She adjusted it again, patiently. After that she grabbed the skirt and started jerking it violently, almost hard enough to remove it and all Grave did was start laughing. Joselyn chose this moment to speak up.

"You're not going to look up my skirt, CLIMB" she pointed upwards and widened her eyes involuntarily. Grave was unshaken but Joselyn herself was a little shocked at herself. She didn't mean to exclaim that last word but her thoughts were disturbed by Grave.

"Oh, come on," he said knowing she wouldn't agree. He just liked fucking with her. He enjoyed hearing her exasperated and watching her gesture wildly.

_Or maybe you just like hearing her voice and watching her move…_

Grave shook his head forgot about it, he climbed up the ladder before Joselyn like he inevitably would and left her relieved, and ignorant for once of his expression.

She really hated wearing skirts.

_**EG**_

They exited the elevator to the first floor and saw everyone had gathered already at the base of the stairs. Everyone cast them a quick glance but Quistis kept her eyes on them until they made their embarrassing descent down the stairs.

They weren't actually late; they wouldn't set off until the Headmaster came down to instruct them on their mission, the details and primary strategies and such. For now the cadets spoke amongst themselves while the designated Instructors and PesticidE's for each team stood by speaking with each other. However most of the PesticidE's stood by silent.

Joselyn assumed the one speaking with Instructor Trepe was their bodyguard. She was about as short as Grave and wore a short broad saber similar to the ones Galbadian soldiers wore on her belt. Quistis caught the attention Joselyn was giving her bodyguard and waved her hand in her direction. They turned away from each other and the PesticidE approached the team.

"Greetings my name is Carbuncle, I will be your bodyguard for this mission," she stood straighter than an arrow and held her hand out to Joselyn.

For a moment Joselyn thought her bodyguard was posed much like a nutcracker and had to suppress a chuckle, but she took her hand and played polite much like she usually did with the adults in her academy.

"My name is Joselyn, and this is Cody and Grave," she gestured to each teammate respectively.

Hands were shaken and the whole time Joselyn couldn't help but wonder how that woman was looking at them. Why did they need to wear masks and voice altering devices anyway?

"You're Carbuncle, I've heard good things about you," Grave said politely while still shaking her hand.

"You must be Grave…" Grave cut her off.

"You've heard bad things right?" he said smiling a bit, and wondered if she was smirking too.

"Yes well, it must all be rather trivial if you're here now right?" she said still looking much like a SeeD nutcracker. Joselyn had to try harder not to laugh.

"Most of it," he said effectively ending the conversation. Cody reached out a long arm and shook his share of shaking.

"Cody, I already know who you are," he said with finality.

With all of the formalities out of the way in their group and others Headmaster Leonhart exited the elevator with perfect timing to address the cadets, Instructors and bodyguards alike, though mostly he addressed the cadets. Before he spoke he cleared his throat for the attention of all cadets, mostly though he had their attention because he was wearing a strange leather jacket that none of the students had ever seen before.

"Greetings future SeeDs," to Quistis and a few select members of the crowd Squalls tone sounded very uncharacteristic, but to the cadets he was a young principal with a certain lameness about him that those with political authority always had. Although many of the female cadets were restraining hoots and hollers and certainly saw nothing lame about him with their normally secret libidos.

"SeeD is an organization for those who need military assistance, though we have been known to work independently from time to time, which is what we are doing this day. Today we will ambush The Dollet Ruins, which has recently become Galbadia's latest military location. Based on the way their units have been moving we expect them to attack FH next. But today we will hinder their attack. You are instructed to make your last minute preparations in the next fifteen minutes then report to the hangar for departure, if you don't need to make any more preparations then report to the hangar immediately." Squall saluted everyone and once he received his he turned back to the elevator and was soon out of sight.

The crowd dispersed and before Joselyn stepped away she caught sight of Tucker watching her. He looked as awkward as ever in his cadet uniform. His stance was limp and his hair looked dirty, and the stitches around his lip were still there looking like the grin he couldn't muster on his real lips. He resembled a skeletal character from a Claymation movie she had seen once, it was about Halloween… that was all she could remember, and the title of the movie escaped her.

He also resembled Grave in his frenzy in a twisted embarrassing way. But she certainly wouldn't tell Grave she had compared him to Tucker even for a second.

Joselyn followed Grave and Cody, pretending she hadn't looked at Tucker at all, missing the look on his face behind the stitches.

_**EG**_

Quistis couldn't help but look on the students with pride. She couldn't yet know how many would die, or how many would fail –themselves or their comrades—but every time she saw cadets filing to their transports something in her always clicked. She knew perfectly well they were just going off to kill, but it was for a good cause, and in warlike times it was the causes that drove you.

Quistis was not overlooking the group that Savior was guarding but that didn't stop her from ignoring her students to talk to him. Technically she wasn't responsible for them until they boarded the aircrafts. Judging by the amount of time Squall gave them for last minute preparations, and the amount of time Grave was likely to spend putting of his work she decidedly had about fifteen minutes to kill.

It was always Quistis who initiated their conversations. Not because Savior was rude, because he didn't want to lead himself into a trap. Quistis was skilled at interrogations and if he let anymore details about identity slip Quistis would have his helmet cracked open like a brittle nutshell. But this was Saviors conviction; Quistis had not nearly the arrogance to think she could uncover one of B-Gardens best kept secrets easily.

She was behind him now; she decided not to tap his shoulder for the sake of surprise.

"So… I noticed that you, Grave and Joselyn arrived at precisely the same time two weeks ago, can you explain that?" Savior turned around quickly and almost said something, but just in time he stopped himself.

They both knew that Quistis didn't care about this since the question was somewhat absurd, but she was hard pressed for something to say. They both also knew he would answer her anyway, which was why she was smirking so arrogantly.

"Well, we were all late…" he said simply and pretended to not know where she was going with this.

"Why were _you_ late?" she asked with the same pleased tone.

"Well," he repeated, whenever he became nervous around Quistis he would say that word at the beginning of each sentence, it was just a sign for Quistis that she had him cornered.

"I don't know about them, I'm assuming they were just slacking in the halls or held up in their previous classes." He said forcing professionalism, trying as hard as he could to avoid his reason for lateness.

But Quistis was wise to his subject dodging, she would have him soon, it was all a matter of time, but she was not concerned even though she had a time limit.

"_Well?"_ she taunted.

"Fine, I overslept," he admitted finally, his hopes of secrecy dashed like spilled pudding and nuts.

"_You overslept?"_ she stated it more than she asked it.

Clearly she was outraged but Savior refused to look at her at that moment, so he couldn't judge very well _how_ outraged. She was no doubt about to throw herself into a fit now. Damn, this was not the conversation he wanted to have with her before a mission.

Savior knew very well that it was only a field exam for the cadets and not an actual mission but there would still be participation in combat, in fact if Savior had heard right the entire mission was just that. Regardless of all the facts; he knew he could handle the enemy, he was a skilled fighter, and Quistis was not even participating in the combat with him. But there was always that chance he wouldn't come back, and he didn't want their last words to be unpleasant. As unlikely as it was that he wouldn't survive a field exam he was still very concerned.

"Quistis?" he asked almost sounding timid, even through his voice filter Quistis could make out his tone as soft as it was.

"To think that your mask was off when you were _supposed_ to be around," she was already on her tirade. He'd be lucky to get a word in edgewise at this point.

"Quistis!" he demanded. Quistis halted her tirade quickly and brought her attention to his lone goggle.

"I'm sorry," he said simply, but it sounded heartfelt, too heartfelt for sleeping in late when he shouldn't.

"It's not that big of a deal really, I guess I was exaggerating," she said apologetically.

"It's alright Quistis; I understand why you're concerned." He said kindly.

Then they shared one of those moments you want to enjoy and let linger because you know it should be over already. Quistis didn't seem to notice of all the people in the group they were the only ones who had stopped for no apparent reason. He wanted to forget about it and pull her into the ring of water or something. But he had an obligation to play his part in keeping the order of the Garden, so he told her.

"We should probably get going," he said, and she quickly caught on as to why.

"Right," she said.

They shuffled quickly back into the crowd trying not to run, else they be embarrassed. Much to their mutual chagrin they were separated, this time due to one of Quistis's obligations.

"I'm sorry we couldn't talk longer but I forgot to collect some of my student's papers," she said rather quickly, and Savior excused her with a nod.

Quistis smiled and imagined him smiling back, with the imaginary face she had given him, it was only temporary though, and someday she wouldn't need the imaginary one.

Once she was a good distance away from Savior Quistis manifested some of her proverbial frost for the encounter she was about to have.

Quistis didn't hate Joselyn. She only detected a familiar brand of malice in her, it was so familiar that Quistis knew for sure that it was for her, it was very distinct and only one other student she could think of had shown it to her in the past. Once she had an adequate coat of frost developed she announced herself.

"Cody, Grave, Joselyn!" she barked, and tilted her head up a bit for emphasis, or perhaps it was for eye contact with Joselyn, she decided she'd rather not discuss that with herself at that moment.

At this point most of the students had dispersed between the hangar and the dormitories and conveniently all three of them were headed for their rooms. Each of them turned around to address her, and when they tried to salute she just stopped them. Although it was practical to indulge formalities like salutes especially before a mission –any mission, even if it was only a test- but Quistis was not in the mood, she had three papers to grade and she needed to do it quickly.

"I believe the three of you collectively forgot something?" she said in her instructor's tone, the same one used after someone made a mistake and then the teacher would say, 'What did you learn?'

Each of them shrugged until Cody remembered for all of them and handed his test to Quistis. Grave and Joselyn followed suit and looked particularly eager to be relieved of their instructors presence but Quistis still needed to bother them.

"Alright, I'm sure everything is in order but I still need to check these to make sure you passed," Joselyn scoffed but Quistis pretended not to notice, and Grave pretended not to be agitated. Cody pretended not to be amused. Grave knew Joselyn was inches away from saying something that could get them all in trouble so he cut in.

"Will that be all Instructor?" he asked politely.

"Yes Grave… I supposed I'll see you all in about ten minutes, I will give you your final mission statement then off you go," she said feigning excitement, which normally would not be feigned but for some reason when she was around students, Joselyn in particular Quistis had trouble mustering a genuinely positive tone.

Quistis left without another word which was good for Grave, but now he had Joselyns temper to worry about.

"Why are you always defending her?" she demanded, determined to get the answer she was not going to get.

Quistis smiled a distance away from them, and giggled to herself. The similarities were so uncanny Quistis was surprised the girl didn't have a trench coat flapping behind her at all times.

_**EG**_

Grave and Joselyn entered their dorm –or their lair as they sometimes called it, although it wasn't quite big enough to be a lair—to do exactly what they weren't supposed to do.

Rest.

Grave found a spot on the carpet that was out of Joselyns way and collapsed. They had a good five minutes to kill before they needed to go to the hangar so they made the best of it. All Grave needed to do was grab his crowbars. Joselyn surprisingly wasn't bringing her sword; she had something else in mind for their mission.

Joselyn entered her room and rummaged through her closet –which upon inspection of Grave's closet would prove far messier by comparison—throwing clothes and objects that she assumed weren't fragile when she threw them over her shoulders. In the back was her prize, and even Grave would agree it was something that Instructor Kinneas had done right.

Joselyn pulled a briefcase much like the one Cody carried out of the bowels of her closet with effort so great it looked overly dramatic, and if Grave were watching her he'd probably have laughed out loud. She set that thought aside and opened the briefcase and underneath was Joselyns other prized possession. Inside was her very own M21 sniper rifle, it was a 44.1" (112 centimeter) 51 millimeter caliber fiberglass and steel beauty with a 20 or 5 round box magazine capacity with a 900 yard maximum range and damn was it ever shiny.

Joselyn slung it over her shoulder and aimed out the window at a bird that she wouldn't dream of shooting. The weapon was unloaded anyway so even if she was sadistic like Grave she couldn't shoot the poor thing. But Joselyn wasn't stupid, in her case and even in her jacket she had plenty of ammo, and to make for her lack of a sword she had stocked plenty of spells that morning –including a few high level spells she wasn't authorized to have and she didn't even tell Grave or Cody about those.

"You're fawning over your gun again aren't you?" he asked disdainfully, almost sounding like he didn't approve of the attention she gave her weapon.

"Sure I am, so what?" she asked innocently, or as innocent as someone holding a sniper rifle could be, and though Grave couldn't see her he knew she was holding it.

"You're always pawing that thing, it's like you've forgotten that you have a sword, are you even bringing your sword?" Joselyn didn't answer for a moment, his voice sounded a little muffled and she couldn't help but imagine him with half of his face against the carpet while trying to speak coherently.

"For your information no, I'm just bringing this and some spells"

"What about your GF?" he asked rhetorically.

"Well of course I'm bringing my GF," she said reluctantly putting her inanimate friend back in its case, relishing momentarily in the 'new gun' smell before sealing the briefcase.

"Your smelling it again aren't you?" Joselyn froze as the briefcase clicked shut, and couldn't answer for a moment, his voice sounded normal again, apparently he had gotten up.

"Am not!" she said too loudly giving away her deception. She adjusted her skirt as he leant against her doorway.

"You really creep me out with that thing you know that?" he said nonchalantly and left her doorway, "c'mon, we've got to go, and I have a book to return," he said changing the subject gladly, although judging by his tone Joselyn couldn't detect that. Grave swiped his crowbars from the table next to the door and secured them on the hooks attached to his belt.

Joselyn chose not to answer that. They left their dorm and Joselyn made her way to the hangar, while Grave risked lateness by going to the library for the first time in two weeks. Over the course of their time rooming together Joselyn had started to share disdain with Grave. She was not as bothered by Instructor Kinneas as Grave was because of his link to her now precious weapon. Although he did hit on his students –including her—too often, she could tolerate it if it was more subtle but he was very direct about it which bothered her.

And there was the dressing like a cowboy thing to think about, which was the only reason Grave disliked the man from what she could tell.

Joselyn thought she was beginning to understand his point of view about the other people of the Garden. Zell bothered her a bit and he was sometimes rude. In fact the heroes in general were bothersome. They had the adult quality about them that never failed to bite at adolescent mentality, which was absurd considering they were separated only by three years.

But by far the most bothersome thing Joselyn had discovered about Grave was the total absence of mirrors. Even in the bathroom, she found it hidden in her closet –once Cody's closet—and at that time considered asking Grave what the deal was. But she quickly decided that was unwise and asked Cody the next chance she had.

Cody had very little to say about it. It was not fear, or even superstition about breaking them, it was just another symptom of Graves insecurity about his appearance. At this Joselyn had scoffed and Cody, much to Joselyns surprise, scolded her for it. His friendly demeanor was reinforced however when he explained to her that Graves friendship was not to be had if she disrespected his issues –for a moment she had thought that Cody was actually a guidance councilor in disguise. Judging by how he had put it he seemed to think she was somehow interested in Grave, and she was. She was interested in him the way a young independent was interested in a dwelling of her own.

After their long talk Joselyn snuck back into her own room and hid the mirror again, sometimes she would bring it out and use it after Grave had fallen asleep or just hidden himself in his room for whatever reason. She still hadn't talked to him about it, and she wasn't sure if she would. Maybe she would, if they came back she'd talk to him about it.

A friend wasn't supposed to keep secrets from their friend that was what Joselyn thought. But really she just hated it when others left her in the dark.

_**EG**_

Joselyn is hiding something from me. She seems to get fidgety and distracted by things more when she's working up the guts to talk to me about something. What bothers me is she hides her problems concerning me from me. I'm the last person she should keep those things from. And I know that it is about me, because when she has trouble with others she is open about it. Just yesterday we were discussing the pretentiousness of Instructor Kinneas.

Hmm, that brings a smile to my face.

Joselyn is an entertaining friend, sometimes she's more fun than Cody because Cody doesn't like to make fun of other people, and I thrive on that, Joselyn isn't quite the same but she does enjoy mocking with me.

I don't really need to return this book, I'm just sick of seeing her behave the way she does with that gun. I've been submitted to enough of that for a week and a half now and there are few excuses I wouldn't take to get away from her when she's toying with that thing.

I curse Instructor Kinneas once more for giving her that cursed thing. Even though I know that Joselyn would have the same kind of excitement from any other sniper rifle, had she received it from anyone else. I just have an easier time if I pin these problems on faces I dislike rather than facing them against the faces I do like.

And I do like Joselyns face.

I note as I enter the library that Shield is not stationed here for once, perhaps he'll finally see some action. If so I'm happy for him, a field exam isn't much but at least he'd be doing something productive.

Nobody's here, not even the librarian involved with Instructor Dintch, perhaps their in the back or something… no, of course, now I feel stupid. The library isn't even open yet, so of course there's nobody here. I toss the X-ATM092 blue print on the counter and leave for the hangar –the blue print is the mechanical equivalent of the anatomy books, so of course I couldn't resist to take a look.

When I make it to the hangar everyone else has arrived, and all of the Whelps are hovering in the air with the hatches wide open. The smell of fuel and hormonal teenagers seems to slither into my nostrils and offends my smell receptors –separately they're fine but smelling them together creates some new kind of odor I can't stand. I scan the area for my designated comrades and spot them immediately.

Quistis has already begun to brief Joselyn and Cody, perhaps I should have endured Joselyns gun fawning… no. Quistis notices me and waved me over, she doesn't look too annoyed, so perhaps I made it in time after all. I take my place beside Joselyn and take a moment to look at her; she's giving me a menacing stare. I try as hard as I can to look innocent, but that's awfully hard when one doesn't know what they're accused of.

"You're late, and I'm responsible for you now" Joselyn sounds awfully cold, colder than her scent even.

But she wasn't like this a few minutes ago… Perhaps I should just chock it up to womanhood, women are really fucking weird anyway so maybe I can get away with that mentality for this.

Before I can ask what she means Quistis answers me.

"As I was saying before Grave," she says to me alone but still sounds like she's addressing all of us.

"Joselyn is the captain of your squad, you are to follow her every instruction unless it goes against a higher order, in which case discuss her plans with her and make a fair compromise. This sort of thing is unlikely to come up for this exam since all you'll be doing is building up a kill count, but these rules apply nonetheless."

You might think I'd be disappointed but I think this is perfect. I have never considered myself a leader. If I were a leader I would no doubt lead my team into the valley of death and that would be the end. I have virtually no sense of strategy, but Joselyn does. Just one of the numerous things I have learned after living with her for two weeks.

Quistis's voice is almost drowned out by the sound of other lectures, and whelps heating up for take-off. I think Joselyn and Quistis are squabbling about something but I can't quite tell, the smell of engine oil and teenage bodies is distracting me.

Quistis produces a map from a nearby table and shows us Dollet, this map is a scribble at best, and there was more to Dollet than what is on this map, but then again Dollet isn't the same anymore.

"The Dollet Dukedom is in ruins. Galbadia is using it as a temporary base and as the Headmaster said they are most likely planning to use it as a vantage point for attacking FH," she points to a spot on the map marked above the beach, atop a flight of stairs, it looks like an archway.

"This beach is where the whelps will land after dropping you off, you will be dropped on the other side of town. Once you receive the order to retreat you will head directly to the beach –and do not allow yourself to be distracted during your departure," she's talking very tersely now, she wants us to be careful at that point.

Quistis looks straight at Joselyn the same way she was a minute ago when they had that disagreement I missed. I don't think she trusts Joselyn, they're like two negatively charged ions when they speak together. Not like in class when Joselyn would just bother her a little bit by whispering loudly or trying to get my attention. This is worse; it's almost like a stand-off.

"Captain Joselyn, you are to instruct your fellow cadets and PesticidE now, I wish you all the best of luck," she salutes us and we salute simultaneously. Quistis leaves us the map and clops off somewhere –perhaps to Savior before he takes off. Before Joselyn has a chance to speak Quistis turns around.

"And Grave?" she looks questioningly to me, not quite turning around all the way.

I raise my eyebrows rather than speaking.

"The X-ATM092 is _not_ a lubricant," she says matter-of-factly and quickly departs before she can see Cody and Joselyn crack up.

Their laughter stops before I notice and a gloved hand waves in front of my eyes, I turn to Joselyn more abruptly than I mean to.

"What?" I ask.

"Quit fantasizing about the teacher and listen," she looks at me a little scornfully, with a hint of some other emotion I can't identify.

Joselyn picks up the map and studies it privately for a moment; meanwhile our bodyguard is nowhere in sight and our pilot is the same. Joselyn is still ignoring Cody and me so I should discuss this with him.

"Cody," I try to catch his attention but he's watching someone, I try again and he still doesn't respond so I look in the direction of whatever has his attention.

I see Selphie Tilmitt.

She's so hyper I sometimes wonder if Instructor Kinneas has to wipe the sugar off his dick after they fuck. But Hyne help me if she's our pilot I may have to really kill Joselyn to spare her the suffering of being Selphies passenger. Based on what I've heard from Quistis, Selphie has a terrible reputation as a pilot. Quistis claims that although Selphie is now skilled at flying, to be her passenger is similar to falling from a collapsing building. It's very dangerous and if you aren't junctioned you're likely to die.

I myself am junctioned although the only thing I can enhance is my strength and even that isn't enhanced very much. None the less I'm confident I can survive the turbulence.

Ms. Tilmitt is approaching us and I know she is coming to us, I hope against hope that she will pass us and fly for the students behind us, that it only looks like she's approaching us. But I know she's coming, I have the same feeling of inevitability that I felt two weeks ago when I first encountered Joselyn, after she had frozen me in the ice and I watched her swing her weapon into my chest. I watched it happen and now I'm watching this, it feels exactly the same.

"Hey gang!" she stops right in front of us just short of tripping and falling at my feet. "Are you ready?" Cody and I nod but Joselyn is still busy studying the map.

Which is absurd, I understand that when you are the leader there is pressure to be felt but she really should have a plan by now. I punch her in the arm to get her attention and all I get is a mean look.

"Joselyn, we need to know what to do," she just gives me another mean look.

"I'll think of something, I'll just tell you on the way," I look at her dubiously. "What? We'll be fine," I am not convinced, clearly the others feel the same, this doesn't look good.

"Well, before we take off I need to ask you three a few things," Joselyn folds the map quickly to my amazement –I've never understood map folding, I envy anyone who can do it right—and puts it in her pocket, probably for the ride to Dollet.

"First of all are you all Junctioned?" Each of us nods.

"Good, who do you all have, Cody?" she asks then blows a small lock of hair out of her eyes, too small to notice until she blows on it.

I think this is stupid, but apparently making sure who has what Guardian Force is part of protocol. I can't imagine why, it sounds rather trivial to me.

"Crusader," he says nonchalantly, but anyone could detect his arrogance. Crusader is a dangerous GF, even for the one who junctions them.

From what I understand Crusader is three demons, they each borrow a portion of the life force of three team members –I don't know what they do if there aren't three team members to drain—they use the energy to create weapons and redeem themselves by destroying every enemy in sight as quickly and efficiently as possible. Interesting that Cody was trusted with them. I have to admit that I'm glad I was not trusted with Crusader, a GF the sucks the life out of you seems to defeat the purpose the GF's serve.

Selphie is fidgeting, she's probably eager to fly us to our deaths, or just fly us to death. Joselyn would probably scold me for judging her before being Selphies passenger –especially since I'm judging her based on things Quistis told me. And that is why I will not bring it up, if I'm right then Joselyn and I can agree about it later after we've relieved ourselves of our breakfast.

"Joselyn?" she asks rubbing her foot fiercely into the steel floor.

"Maduin," she says simply, and Selphie and I raise our eyebrows, but Joselyn looks uninterested in explaining.

I have never heard of this Maduin, I'll just have to hope she uses soon, and hope that it isn't like the sadistic Crusader. I decide to get ahead of Selphie; she seems eager and if she does end up killing us all it may as well happen soon.

"Salamander," I say with less pride than I have for my Guardian.

"Good!" she exclaims and hops, apparently we're almost ready, except out PesticidE is missing, we're not supposed to leave without her.

"The Whelps aren't exactly finished," Joselyn and Cody look rather uneasy and Selphie explains.

"You see the hatch takes a while to open and a while to close which is why they're all floating already, it's slow to close and slow to open which is why we need to time everything right. You need to get inside soon because the hatch is set to close already. After it closes we take off, but halfway through the flight it will start to open again," we must be looking at her strangely because she looks doubtful. Perhaps we don't seem to grasp it.

Selphie just waves her hand dismissively.

"It's alright if you don't get it, I'll just tell you what to do and we'll be fine," Joselyn and Cody look content about that.

"Good, let's go then, hurry before it closes!"

Joselyn and Cody pick up their weapons and we race to get inside the Whelp. As we enter the vessel it dawns on me what will happen. We may have Instructors and PesticidE's watching us today but we will be responsible for our own lives. We are going to enter a battle field and kill people –this bothers me less for some reason—and people will try to kill us. We have never done this before but every student I've seen today looks so confident. They don't seem to be thinking about the danger taking place, they look ignorant and carefree when they should be preparing themselves mentally for a bloodbath. Planning is in order; I need to act beyond Joselyns authority if this mission is to work. I may not be a good leader, but I can take orders, I will take my orders to a higher extreme.

**The First Demon Of Balamb Garden**

Fujin and Raijin stood in the doorway of the hangar and watched as the Whelps took off. Fujin had taken a moment to look away to see Raijins face and the pride he showed there. She was still looking, and felt envious of him for some reason. She couldn't remember feeling as proud as he looked just then. Seeing his hard work put to use was clearly a healthy boost to his ego.

She was happy for him.

Fujin looked back to the Whelps as the last few took off. They exited through the exit that was once for the cars. It had since been enlarged and still looked rather awkward. The lower right quarter was shaped a little bit differently than the rest. And the doors opened and closed looking morbidly like a giant mouth with a noticeable fang cavity.

Sometimes Fujin thought the mechanics took the dragon theme a bit too far.

"So how do you think they'll do?" Fujin was a little startled and she hoped she didn't show it, when she turned back to Raijin he was grinning a bit mischievously so her hopes were clearly shattered.

She tried not to pout and answered him.

"What do you mean?" she pretended to ignore his grin.

"Those kids who cut each other up two weeks ago, they're on the same team." This time Fujin did make a face.

It wasn't long ago Fujin heard about that incident. She wasn't on duty in the Training Center the day that had occurred, which meant that a PesticidE was there in her place. The name of the bodyguard escaped her but she clearly remembered scolding the woman. Annoyingly enough Fujin couldn't tell how sorry the woman really was, thanks to the efficient garb all PesticidEs wore.

"Yes, I heard about that, I wish I had been there," she sounded remotely regretful.

"It's not your fault Fujin, besides they're alive and well now," he patted her strongly on the shoulder.

"I don't care, I still wish I had been there," she said stubbornly.

"Let's go, I'm hungry" she left the room quickly and left Raijin to scramble clumsily six steps behind her.

"Hey not so fast!" he said and didn't catch up until she stopped and waited for him.

"So" he continued after they had been quiet for a few minutes. "Do you think they'll work well together or just fight more?" he asked eagerly, very interested in her thoughts as he always was.

"I don't know Raijin, like I said I wish I had been there," she looked to him again and he seemed to on the verge of pouting, albeit a fake pout, she decided to humor him.

"But if it makes you feel any better I doubt they'll fight at all," that seemed to put Raijins concerns to rest.

Fujin wasn't sure what Raijin saw in those kids, but he clearly saw something of good potential. Despite popular opinion Raijin tended to have good judgment of others, that's what Fujin thought, perhaps those kids would do well today.

_**EG**_

"_Hyne Damn it Grave will you drop the cold shoulder act and help me?" _

"What's that? I can't hear you the hatches are still open," he said holding one hand to one ear mockingly, and in Cody's opinion rather cruelly.

A few moments after take off Joselyn was faced with the embarrassment of forgetting to strap her harness over herself. Moments after take off Selphie –without warning—upturned the whelps nose and Joselyn being unrestrained nearly fell out of the vessel, Selphie had not yet stopped the ascending. Joselyn was currently hanging from Grave's waist like it was a life preserver –which in fact, he sort of was—Joselyn was genuinely fearing for her life since, like Grave had said, the hatches were still open so if she let go she might have fallen out.

Grave was just smiling, unconcerned. Really he was confident that she would be fine, she had a death grip on his waist after all. It wasn't until he actually looked at her that he decided to help. She was genuinely scared and when Grave admitted it to himself, he didn't want her to be afraid because of him.

Particularly _of_ him, but that was sort of trivial at the moment.

He continued to grin since he was still amused by the situation, and he still believed that she would ultimately be okay. He uncrossed his arms, reached under her armpits and –honestly trying as hard as he could to _not_ touch her boobs—pulled her uncomfortably close to him in a bear hug.

Actually it was comfortable –uncomfortably comfortable—but she wasn't going to say that.

Eventually Selphie flew normally again and Grave reluctantly moved Joselyn back into her seat, he held her in place while she finally put her restraints on and let go sooner than he thought he would need to when she smacked his hands.

Grave sat back wordlessly and scanned the cabin to get his mind off things; Cody was looking more indifferent than usual, Joselyn was adjusted her skirt again, and their PesticidE was the same as Cody –albeit more characteristically.

It had turned out that their PesticidE Carbuncle took her place in the Whelp before they had boarded themselves. She apologized superfluously and Grave let her know it. Now they were thankfully with a body guard, but as usual for Grave they were also with an uncomfortable silence.

If you would call the noise of the engines and wind passing their vessel at a couple hundred miles an hour silence. Uncomfortable though, certainly.

The so-called silence became actual silence moments later when the hatch sealed itself. Leaving a calming quiet this was interrupted with matching ringing in every ones ears. It would remain closed for about five minutes before it would slowly open again.

Joselyn turned as far away from Grave as her restraints would allow her too. Too often she tried to be friendly with Grave and too often he would flick metaphorical salt in her eyes. If not for his culinary skills she would probably ask to be moved to room again, although she would still stay in some sort of contact with him.

He was certainly not Tucker, who was like Clorox in the intestines. But when Grave chose to be bothersome –Joselyn had decided that Grave _chose_ to do it—he was an entirely different brand of bleach.

It was Tucker who inadvertently taught Joselyn to sympathize with Instructor Trepe on a certain level. Both of them shared unwanted fandom, although Instructor Trepe had more than one bothersome follower, but she had never had to _room_ with any of the ogling eyed nitwits. Tucker was the enthusiastic petting human to her uninviting cat, persistent and with filthy, filthy hands.

Grave however, Grave's idea of friendliness was playful sadism. Even the smallest trouble she experienced that came to his attention made him smile if only a little. The seriousness of the problem seemed to gauge his grins. Actions –or lack of action in this case—like neglecting to help her when her restraints weren't on was not the sort of thing that happened often, but it still happened.

Cody all too often tried to remind her of Grave's finer points –and although she didn't always seem to give in she always would—he was smart, very reliable particularly in the departments of schoolwork and nourishment. And if Cody was right about Grave like he usually was then he would be an asset on the battlefield as well.

Joselyn was planning on ordering Grave to fight away from her. The reason she chose not to bring her sword on the mission was because she didn't want to feel an obligation to fight beside him. The truth was she was still afraid of him. If being his comrade was enough to keep him from slaying her then she wanted to see that for herself, sadly she could not muster the courage to trust him yet. So a test was in order.

It was true that Grave also put a certain burn in her belly, but it was far less painful than the one brought on by his scarecrow of a rival.

Grave spoke suddenly but politely, so as not to startle her from her reverie.

"So what's the plan Captain?" said Grave, she turned back to him immediately and upon inspection of his now polite features she answered.

"There is a tall building near our landing point, it's distant from the area the Galbadians have covered but it's not out of range of my rifle. We will infiltrate the building and dispose of any soldiers they have planted there, if I'm right then there will be few or none," everyone nodded, clearly paying attention and hanging on her every word.

It was a pleasant boost to her ego.

"Once there I will take my post at a high secluded point and participate in the battle from a distance. Cody, once the building is secure you will head in to the fight, but stay around the path to the building, or at least the vicinity, you'll make sure they stay away from me, and I'll make sure they're numbers around you are down," Cody nodded uniformly.

"I don't give you orders do I Carbuncle?" she asked genuinely as a question, rather than the stern certainty you would normally hear that phrase with.

"No, Miss," she replied uniformly as well and Joselyn tried not to smile, that image of a SeeD nutcracker was still flashing in her head like an amusing roll of film.

The hatches began to open again, opening quicker than they had closed, and filled the jet again with the sound of winds that might have swept away birds.

"That leaves you Grave," she addressed him sternly and paused for a moment, she thought back to their meeting two weeks prior, just for a moment.

"You belong in the fray," was all she said, and Grave's pleasure could've been seen by the blind.

"Very well," he looked like he wanted to say more but wouldn't, she almost asked him what he was grinning about this time but the speaker she was previously unaware of flare to life with that short pilots voice.

"We'll be landing in a minute, get it together everybody 'cause I'm not flying you guys back if you don't get off this jet!" she threatened perkily, too perkily for the threat.

"We're almost to the beach kiddies, hang on!" there was a click from the speaking meaning that Selphie had put the microphone back in place.

Grave touched Joselyns hand then, and when he had her attention, he showed that arrogant smile she was reluctantly becoming fond of.

_What's this?_

He pulled one hand from her secure crossing of arms and pulled it as close to his face as the restraints would allow, he waited for her features to soften, and once she looked dubious he stroked her fingertips with his other hand.

Right before he nearly scared her to death.

Grave unbuckled his restraints and kissed her knuckles briefly, so briefly she almost didn't notice, and allowed himself to fall out of the Whelps open hatch.

He was gone in an instant.

Even Cody looked surprised.

Joselyns heart stopped and she noticed. It only started to beat again once she willed it to, and once she did she regretted it because it was beating too fast. The tears poured out of her eyes before she even registered the loss. She wanted to lie down, but her seat was ramrod straight and her restraints were strong on her body. So she just closed her eyes

–which didn't stop the tears—and took long deep breaths.

Upon inspection she would have known Cody was in the same condition. Carbuncles concern was uncertain but Joselyn couldn't care less about their bodyguard at the moment. She wiped her face of salt and moisture and wiped it on her jacket collar where her other tears had gone.

When they would land Joselyn would want to stay in the jet, but after some pushiness from the pilot she would force herself to swallow her tears and get out.

She had lost most of her enthusiasm for the exam. She was planning on counting on Grave no matter how far away he was, but she couldn't count on him where he was now.

The test was less of a manhunt now, now they would just try to survive.

_**EG**_

I've always wanted to fall from a high distance. And now that I'm finally doing I can say that falling from the short ones is just a crumb compared to the cake. Two weeks ago when I fell from the entrance/exit of the Training Center I lost consciousness before I could enjoy it, although that was somewhat of a short fall itself.

This must be what it's like to fly, but without the effort of staying airborne to distract you. The wind is strong, it smooths out my skin and my cadet uniform and I feel the way sea glass might feel if it were an organism.

As I planned the force of the Whelp is not making me fall directly down but towards the beach, towards the town of Dollet where I will kill my fellow humans for political reason that I will not bother to understand. The feeling of being forced in one direction reinforces the feeling of flying, I love this, I genuinely do, but I don't decide that until it is over and it is over too soon.

I bypass the water and the beach and the staircase and with great force my feet pound the brick walkway and I skid like an ice skater with confidence which I, by all rights, should not have. I'm sliding backwards and for a brief moment I hear the two soldiers occupying this spot before I've reached them. I hold my weapons on either side of me and wait for that sound.

_**CRUNCH**_

The sound is wonderful and hard to describe, it's snapping and ripping and squishing all at once and more. My momentum wanes, and halts. My head is bowed without shame, my weapons outstretched. After I collect myself from my stunt, I hope I don't look like I'm collecting myself for that would ruin the reputation I want my enemies to have.

After a nice deep breath exercise I walk back to my prey and a shiver of pleasure like soft orbs of powdered sugar runs up and down my spine, I shiver more when I hear their voices. They wail and scream and curse and each syllable hits my heart the way franks must hit Instructor Dintch's belly.

When I reach them I have to squint through the shadows to see. Perfect, their legs are separated at the knee, just like I'd hoped. I am off to a very good start, I'm proud of myself.

With relish I hold one bloody crowbar up to my nose and breathe in the scent like a suicide victim would breathe noxious gas and my fist tightens involuntarily –but not without permission as it were—because of this grand feeling.

Certain particles rise from the blood and into my body and I feel another sensation even more familiar than the others so far. Something… that's all I can call it, rushes through my veins then my muscles then my skin then my bones and doesn't stop until it all turns back and pools in my face. My mouth and cheeks smile, my eyebrows furrow, my eyebrows narrow and with finality if feel the gross but great contortion of my face as it changes shape. I can only imagine how my features look now that they are larger, and now that my expression is stuck like this. I imagine I will get the reaction I desire from my enemies.

I turn on my heel and run to the ruined streets of Dollet to seek out my every victim.

_**EG**_

Squall stamped another form.

After two and a half years of being B-Gardens Headmaster Squall decided that he'd rather release the grease traps in the kitchen for a living, it would at least be more entertaining.

He lazily inked the stamp once again and stamped the next form rather sloppily, but it wasn't awkward looking enough for him to get another copy. This was the most tiresome part of his job and he dreaded it, he put everything else before it, even issues concerning Galbadia, or even Selphies 'Orphanage Gang Discovery Anniversary Reunion' plans, an event which was held every year on the nose despite Irvine's sloth-like nature.

Ink stamp, stamp form, place in 'OUT' tray, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. Sometimes he wondered if this was how assembly line workers felt when they had nightmares of doing their job just as it was during wakefulness.

Needless to say boredom made Squall think too much, and when Squall thought too much he started to think about things he didn't want to think about, even if they were trivial things or just obscure.

Back in the orphanage days and even just time before the sorceress war, this need to avoid thinking too much was the reason he accepted Seifers 'offers' of 'sparring,' or in the orphanage days his 'meany-hood' for stick fights. It was true that Squall would sometimes ignore Seifer but that was only if Squall was already occupied by something. Seifer could always negate whatever was occupying him so that his only option would be to fight him.

This must have bothered Seifer, he had always hated ignorance but he absolutely loathed it if it was ignorance of _him_.

Squall paused and shook his head. He was thinking about that dead man again, this couldn't be healthy. Perhaps the others were the same way? Squall certainly didn't miss Seifer on any level of himself he was familiar with, and he didn't have any reason to miss him.

Squall wanted to reason that it was just the custody issues but he was thinking about days at the orphanage, which had nothing to do with B-Gardens legality system. Perhaps it was memories returning from lack of GF use –which was silly he thought, since he hardly used his brain at all these days—just his brain doing its filing while he performed mindless simian tasks.

Squall set the stamping utensil in its tray and sighed heavily. He needed to demote himself, even if it were to be insisted that he at least keep his commander status. Commander would do, as long as he could go on missions again. Ideally he would demote himself back to normal high ranking SeeD, that way he'd have more time to do all of the sleeping he wasn't supposed to do during work hours.

Xu would without a doubt, jump on the opportunity like a lecher at a strip club. She was of a better fit for the Headmaster job than he was and they both knew it. But they never said a word to each other about it, and things stayed as they were because everyone was so convinced that Squall could do it 'and if Squall can then Squall should' was what they might say.

Well enough was enough, he would make the change tonight, and he wouldn't tell his friends or even Rinoa. He'd just make the announcement during his speech for the new SeeDs at the Ball. There would be paperwork to do, but Xu could do that, she wouldn't care and if she would then that didn't matter.

Squall was tired.

There was still the issue of overseeing the PesticidEs. Headmastery and working with the bodyguards would be too much work even for Xu, Squall knew that he didn't want to do it, he'd probably want to fire some of them, and they couldn't afford that. Quistis… she seemed to be interested in that Savior fellow, the first one who applied. But it was a lot of work and Quistis would want to continue being an Instructor… he could lessen her work load… that would be easy. Easier than most people would think.

It was settled then, demote yourself, fire Xu, rehire and promote Xu above your own rank somehow –whatever—lessen Quistis' work load, promote Quistis, withstand complaints and any argument Rinoa might have ready for him, sleep a hell of a lot more.

It was bullet proof.

"I do believe I have earned a nap," he said with equal parts pleasure and finality.

He stood up, and then fell back into his chair. His ass was asleep, damn it. Squall pulled himself up with the desk and tried flexing his ass muscles a whole lot. Thankfully Rinoa wasn't here; she'd probably make popcorn and pretend it was a show. It was frightening how she became the female Irvine when they were alone.

Frightening indeed, the first time they made love he thought some horny cadet with a crush had stolen her skin and worn it.

Once his blood flow was restored he checked the perimeter for possible 'Nap Police.' Upon confirming his safety he went back to his desk and relaxed.

Sleep took him almost immediately, his dreams took him sooner.

_**And his tongue went dry as his skin went moist as he entered his memories of the Dingo Desert, and not for the first time Squall questioned his own intelligence concerning leather and the desert.**_

_**Spectral Squall walked side by side with a haggard looking individual. He was wearing clothes that were clearly pilfered and with more aggression than permission. The blood told him that much. His hair was clustered and dirty, likely much darker than it normally was. The men was encrusted with sand and sweat and oils, some from machinery but most from his own skin.**_

_**The man was clearly exhausted but moved with great strides most likely inspired by the enormous prison he was walking away from. He was muttering things, mostly obscenities but occasionally Squall detected gaps in his line of malice, like he was reflecting on something pleasant to keep himself moving.**_

_**They seemed to walk forever, but really it had only been ten minutes, in reality the activity of walking that long would have taken hours but such was the magic of the dream world.**_

_**Their trek found them in Winhil. The town looked just as it did during Squalls adventure those years ago. But from what Squall understood Winhil was a town that scarcely changed; this could be medieval times for all Squall knew.**_

_**Such was the respect young people had for old small towns.**_

_**He sucked in the fresh small town air gratefully and Squall mimicked him experimentally. They walked with a brisker pace down the dirt road, but the look of uncertainty and caution on the mans face was not lost on Squall.**_

_**After a brief pause in front of the towns flower field and a hostile run-in with a mother Chocobo, the man was finally inside the town. He wiped the blood off of his neck with his sleeve and muttered curses in the wild bird's direction once across the bridge. Squall allowed his eyes to go wide when he saw the wound; clearly Chocobos were not to be trifled with.**_

_**He scanned the area for a drink and only found it after some embarrassing door to door searching. Squall might have pointed out if he had been there that Raines pub was across the street, but the man found his way to the other instead.**_

_**Inside the area was like any other room in Winhil sans the kitchen in Lagunas old house, filled with cracks and bullets for Hyne knew what reason. There was a minimal amount of occupants in the one room bar. All were old and just as healthy, and just as wary of out-of-towners. He sat at the counter while Squall chose to watch from the doorway, it wasn't as if he was in anybodies way after all.**_

_**He ordered a glass of water but instead of his order he received unwanted attention. The men started examining him, even the bartender although all he did was crouch just a bit lower, eventually they spoke up.**_

"_**Hey, yoo're thut kid who tried tu take oovur thu world ain'tcha?" said some drunk maliciously, with the random mix of slurs and barks drunks tend to make their accusations with.**_

"_**Just let me be, all right" Seifer said without hint of question in his voice, trying to sound reasonable but failing.**_

_**The drunks would've done a better job at hopscotch than Seifer would have at sounding reasonable.**_

"_**I doon't think shoo" said a second drunk trying to sound offending but it came out rather comical in Squalls opinion.**_

_**Then the barrage of insults came, much faster than the punches and thrown bottles. Squall couldn't even make out all of the words, they were mixing to together in a swirl of curses and excessive name-calling.**_

"_**Danged adolescent"**_

"_**Stupid kid"**_

"_**Lapdog"**_

"_**Boy  
**_

"_**BOY"**_

"_**BOY!"**_

"_**BOY!"**_

_**BOY!**_

"…_**Seifer…" he said momentarily piteous in a pile of broken glass and drunks blood "SEIFER FUCKING ALMASY!" the scream tore out of his moth like sparks leaping from a bonfire, literally.**_

_**The drunks stopped and Squall watched in fascination as a bright red light shone from Seifers back, the wooden pillar behind him smoldered like wax in the light of lava and Seifer screamed again, and tears became steam on his face leaving flakes of salt under his eyes.**_

"_**I'M NOBODIES FUCKING BOY!"**_

_**All at once the red light wrapped itself around Seifer, and swirled off of him like an enhanced flare spell. The flames held no force; they just came in contact with every inch of the building and burned it with malicious efficiency, efficiency that clearly was not Seifer's doing.**_

_**Squall stood inside for a moment and decided to see the burning before it ended, he wanted to see it from the inside. Seifer was not longer visible in the chaos and Squall chose not to look for him. Moments after the flames erupted Squall noted something about the phenomenon, the sparks were gone, the flames were gone, it was just red.**_

_**Red. **_

_**EG**_

It had been twenty minutes since landing before the team reached their first destination. The building they were currently infiltrating was six stories high and stood at one of the higher points of Dollets inclines. The building, particularly the room they were in, was barren of its former life and culture just like the rest of the town was. Where admirable architecture once stood there was dust and rubble caked and layered as pillars and walls. Where paint and artwork once graced the walls there was only paint chips, numerous, but small, much like the words of an almost lost memory on the tip your tongue.

They were now on the fifth floor and were most thankful to Hyne if there was such a woman. From the moment they stepped in the floors threatened to cave in, and the first floor didn't even have a basement that they were aware of, but more than that they were thankful that nothing gave away their presence. The enemies they encountered were minimal and were dealt with easily. Another thing that Joselyn had worried about briefly was Cody's weapon, it turned out he used a large spear and when in the narrow hallways it might have –but didn't—scraped against the walls and given them away.

None of their concerns got their minds off of Grave however, Joselyn was still crying though she hid it well since she was crying less, and Cody was the same. He had briefly tried to assure her that Grave would never kill himself –and certainly not with a smile on his face—and therefore that meant he _must_still be alive somehow.

This did nothing to genuinely null her pain but she did give Cody a sad smile, the kind where you tighten your lips to keep the sobs from slipping out, which never works, sobs were like oiled slugs that way.

Joselyn did reason to herself at one point that Grave was certainly not normal. His feat with the boulder two weeks ago alone was proof of that. But she couldn't shake the feeling of death from her heart and other organs. It wasn't normal to feel this way about someone you met a few weeks ago she thought, but Grave's apparent suicide had struck a resound chord in her –or rather broken a few resound chords in her.

The remaining part of her that was un-phased by Grave spoke up to remind her that she was on a mission and said nothing more. She shook her head in vain to shake the feeling from her mind and trudged on.

She'd have plenty of time to mourn when she got back to their room… her room…

Upon inspection the fifth floor had no obstacles. Having been outside before they knew none were clinging to the windowsills, inside the room there was nothing to hide behind, unless the Galbadian military had recently developed the ultimate stealth system the coast was clear.

They made their way to the top and Joselyn immediately inspected the view of the town's center. The sixth level of the building was at this point mostly a floor, the floor was mostly still present, part of the wall next to the stairway hadn't yet crumpled, the ceiling was in pieces on the floor and the ground below, and one wall was still perfect, in fact it still had a fairly intact depiction of something left on it.

One of the walls absent left a rail of sorts behind, they ducked behind and peered over it, and found numerous Galbadians at the towns square. Others littered the indoors, most of the others were by the abandoned communication tower path, but most of them were in the vicinity of the water fountain.

They reminded Joselyn of blue ants with helmets.

Cody looked ready to leave and she was about to tell him to stay put but then she heard the sound of her fellow foot-soldiers. Cody didn't even make it to the stairs, in moments the other members of SeeD had swarmed into their designated areas. Like a blue river of teenagers they flooded through the streets, trickled into buildings, and pooled in the Fountain Square.

"That's your cue Cody!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"I'm ten steps ahead of ya!" he yelled from the fifth floor, sounding distracted by his upcoming fight.

Joselyn pulled on her skirt, squatted, slung his rifle over his shoulder, adjusted her skirt again, and aimed. The fight had already broken out and at once Joselyn was faced with a dilemma, something that Grave would have scolded her for if he were with her…

How the hell was she supposed to hit her targets?

The battle had begun, blood had been spilled and both sides already had casualties –thankfully most of which were on the enemy's side—but most importantly to her everybody was moving. She could fire but there was no telling if an enemy would get out of the way or if an ally would get _in_ the way.

She decided to just suck in her gut and fire at something, this mission was technically for practice anyway, and she hadn't associated with _all_ of B-Gardens cadets… Hyne she was starting to think like Grave.

She spotted Cody, he was already close to the main event as it were, near by him was a soldier, she took aim, waited for the incessant shaking in her hands to slow down, and she fired.

The soldier shouted and fell on one knee; Cody was alerted and turned to engage his first human enemy. It ended quickly, Joselyn would venture to bet that he should be grateful for a first kill like that, most were probably more work, and more than that probably weren't earned at all.

Joselyn took aim again and picked off as many blue ants as she felt comfortable firing at, doing her best to be Cody's Guardian.

_**EG**_

The Galbadians should be ashamed; they are so like wingless flies. All that training they go through and it is for nothing. Nothing they trained for anyway, they didn't sit in the mud and rain for basic survival tactics to have their throats torn out while they were on the can, but that's what's been happening more often than anything else today.

It is a pity we didn't know this little interception mission of ours was a surprise to our enemy. Apparently they didn't even imagine we'd be here, no soldier who's ready for battle keeps his weapon six feet away from himself.

I am almost to the designated main battle field, which I admit has taken me longer than what might be considered necessary, since I keep making stops in the houses where the Galbadian soldiers think they're hidden in flies without wings, flies without legs for that matter.

Makes a sword pretty useless.

I push open another door with my weapon and ignore once again that I should be stealthy. The creaking of the door sounds of a tired cat fucking in the middle of the night, the soldiers inside are paying attention to something on the counter, apparently more important than possible intruders, they don't bother looking up.

"That you Earl?" asks one of them, a cup of coffee in his hand, where his weapon should be.

I say nothing; I just dash in his direction and swipe away his throat when he turns around to see if it's his comrade has returned. The other soldier present only has time to pick his sword from the counter and see the bloody grin on my face before I take his head.

The sharp point of the crowbar hits at the base of his neck, just below the helmet and gives me fantastic leverage on his spine, in the same motion I had his head and his spine with it, the column coming out of his torso like a noodle in red sauce being sucked into someone's mouth in reverse.

I hear foot steps coming from the stairs nearby, the loud sounds of boots and metal, heavier than the ones these two soldiers wear. I flip behind the counter being silent for once. And peer around the edge until my new victim shows himself.

It is a red soldier, the kind I have seen little of today. It is no surprise, bullets can be expensive, and it is much cheaper to forge swords anyway. Not that they can swing them for a damn.

He doesn't notice me yet but he will, Galbadian soldiers may be fools but they know to check the perimeter when they're men are down and there are no enemies in sight. He curses in that Galbadian slur and I take that as my cue. I remove the head from my weapon and it hits the floor with a noticeable slap. I wince, knowing for sure he heard that.

"What was that?" he asks warily, sounding more guarded then scared, that will do.

I use the blood on the floor to my advantage and slide out from my hiding place, he sees me and fires but his bullets seem to follow me rather than hit me. The firing stops about the time I stop sliding and I slide once again, this time to him. He's reloaded and aimed but before he can fire I duck. That's the trouble with those weapons, they discharge a set amount of bullets so stopping and re-aiming is impossible. The moment that round is empty I swing for his elbow and take his arm.

He's screaming now, and seems to have forgotten that he has a second weapon. I wait for him to face me again and I take his other arm for good measure. Both limbs fall to my feet looking as useless as their former owner.

I could leave this man to bleed to death but I'd rather not, don't want anybody calling for backup after all. I swing for his stomach and an absurd amount of meat and fluids pour out. I always expected that, the intestine is about a mile long in the average human being.

I hear no more prey so I turn to leave but I feel something tug at me. It's my weapon; I look and quickly feel silly. Apparently I still have the intestines wrapped up on the end. Mental note: Intestine tangles with a vengeance on non-edged weapons.

It takes some doing but I mange to remove the offending organ and can now leave the building, I still have victims left on the main battlefield.

_**EG**_

Joselyn fired again and hid quickly behind the short wall. She took another deep breath and wiped the sweat from her hidden eyebrow. It astounded Joselyn how like swatting flies this was. The enemy moved constantly, and only certain moments would bear fruit if she fired.

And sometimes they just didn't die.

Why couldn't they be more like flies sans their legs and wings?

Joselyn took a moment and breathe some more. She couldn't keep herself from holding her breath when she aimed, she reasoned that it helped her steady herself, but it was also another bane to aiming. She couldn't hold her breath forever and more than once she had to let go at the same moment she'd see a good shot.

Cody would do well enough without her anyway; he was doing well to fend the enemies away with that spear of his. He had given her a lot more work she had expected, it was surprising how daring men with short swords could be against another man with a spear. Or rather, it was surprising how _stupid_ men with short swords could be against another man with a spear.

Does testosterone kill brain cells? She would have to look that up when she got back to

B-Garden.

Joselyn adjusted her skirt again and got back in to position. As she took aim around Cody once again she saw a shadow looming over her from behind, the shadow stretched like an enormous wad of dark taffy all the way to the neighboring buildings roof, it seemed the sun was setting, she absently thought about how long they had been there.

Joselyn turned her head and reacted before she thought. The sword of her opponent struck the spot where she'd been firing and dug itself into the dust and stone. Her new opponent yanked the weapon out with ease and stood before Joselyn like a traitorous nutcracker.

"What the hell are you doing Carbuncle?" she yelled accusingly.

Carbuncle didn't answer, she just raised her weapon again and poised for a second attack. Joselyn scrambled to stand but she just fell again like a spider wearing roller skates. Instead she frantically took aim with her rifle and fired. This wasn't meant to happen, however effective a sniper rifle wasn't meant to be a close range weapon.

She should've brought her sword; she should've listened to Grave.

Predictably Carbuncle had sidestepped before she even fired. Un-phased by the gunshot Carbuncle moved in on Joselyn. Joselyn rolled out of Carbuncles swing and miraculously made it to her feet. Carbuncle swung again and missed Joselyn only by a hairs width, and cut the strap of her rifle instead.

Before Joselyn fired and dodged again Carbuncle gave an amazingly swift kick for legs as short as hers and sent Joselyns rifle in to the air. She was moving to attack again, and Joselyn wasn't moving at all, like a fool she had planned to simply grab her weapon again but it wasn't coming down yet.

Then after the hideous molestation lady luck seemed to be giving her all day long, she decided to do something good for Joselyn.

Carbuncles weapon sparked, which startled her and then it sparked again. Snaps, crackles, and pops resounded from the small sword then just like a snap of a finger, the weapon flashed and was gone. Leaving specks of light to fall from her hand like dust particles floating in a shaft of light.

Joselyn ignored her amazement and caught her weapon. Carbuncle was apparently equally amazed for when Joselyn took aim and fired Carbuncle grabbed the barrel and pushed it in the other direction. The bullet fired but she kept her grip, Carbuncle spun the other way and kicked Joselyn hard in the stomach and claimed the rifle, and with all the finality of a pretentious ice skater she positioned the rifle and aimed at Joselyn.

Joselyns uncharacteristic tears showed themselves again. The pain in her stomach was distracting so she didn't think to cast a spell, it probably wouldn't matter anyway, had the pain not been there she would've been surprised that Carbuncle hadn't fired yet.

She heard a sound nearby but it was distant to her. She couldn't hear anything clearly except for her guts wrenching, her throat choking back the air that refused to nourish her lungs, and words she imagined Grave would say to her.

_You'll be fine._

_Here, get up._

_I thought you hated pity parties._

It took Joselyn a few moments to register that her Sniper Rifle was on the ground now and beside a growing pool of blood. She raised her bloodshot vision to her former enemy, she was still standing but she was bleeding at the wrists. Beside her was another PesticidE, a male one, and much taller.

It must have taken quite a lot of skill to slice her wrists while she was holding that weapon, in fact when Joselyn really thought about, it was impossible. Not impossible to do it necessarily, but it should be impossible to do it before she fired.

The larger bodyguard stabbed Carbuncle in the stomach twice, and then undid the device in the back of her head that secured her helmet, and pushed her to the floor. The pieces of the helmet fell from her head when she hit the ground the way it might have had it been shattered.

Joselyn stood up, still holding her stomach, wanting to adjust her skirt but declining since her hands were already occupied. She rounded her weapon, deciding she could pick it up later. She stood beside the defeated woman next to the new bodyguard; she inspected him, although that was most likely pointless, they all looked the same. She looked at the helmet, squinted through the day light and made out one goggle beside a smear of polystyrene.

Savior.

The man had a damn fine way of living up to his name.

She decided to save her gratitude for later and looked upon her traitors face for the first and last time. She was a rather pretty woman Joselyn admitted, healthy skin, long straight hair black like most of Graves, she was probably a lot prettier without all that blood pouring from her mouth.

"Why, Carbuncle?" Joselyn guessed there was a hint of sadness to his voice, but due to the mouth piece on his mask she didn't know.

Carbuncle coughed up a wad of blood and snickered just the tiniest bit. But it was a hollow and insincere laugh.

"It's what I was… sent here to… do Savior," she coughed again, more blood soaking her jacket. Joselyn imagined a frowning face behind Saviors mask.

"You were sent here to protect this young woman." He said sternly. Joselyn would have found it difficult to argue with him had she been in Carbuncle's position.

But then she didn't understand Carbuncle's position did she?

"Not from… Garden… from…" she stopped, thinking better of what she was about to say.

It didn't matter that she didn't say it, her dialect was unmistakable.

Carbuncle was a Galbadian; she was a spy, and an assassin. Joselyn wondered why she would be killed though. She certainly wasn't special, killing the Headmaster would've made sense. Perhaps she was supposed to reduce the number of cadets… or to send a warning. Joselyn didn't know, and she wouldn't find out, at least not now.

It was clear that Carbuncle wasn't going to talk anymore, be it from blood loss or loyalty. Savior took one last look at his former comrade and slashed her throat. She was a traitor and a spy, but he could still do her the favor of a shorter death.

With that Joselyn picked up her gun. She didn't bother to wipe the blood off, she was too sweaty, too tired. She scanned the floor for a dry spot and instantly gave up. It was truly amazing the amount of blood such a small body could hold. Her cadet boots made a distinct slapping sound against the blood and the dirt, which had mixed and created a thick coppery muck that would have sickened her had she been able to focus on it.

**Not A Lubricant**

Joselyn froze when she looked on the Fountain Square. She didn't crouch into position, she didn't even aim. She only gaped and felt gratitude, relief, and god-like anger swell around her heart like slithering reptiles composed of flame.

She didn't notice before but the noise of battle and death had died down, and now she knew why. The Galbadian soldiers were retreating, not bothering to carry their wounded or their dead. There were cadets left, many in fact, but most of them had left, apparently the order to retreat had been issued. She saw Cody safe in what could be considered a corner, still carrying his spear and battle-wary.

And in the center of the bodily wreckage of men black with soot stood Grave, bathed in blood and sunlight and looking so much like a demon.

A demon in daddy's work clothes she might have thought –albeit bloodied and shredded work clothes—because of that oversized jacket he'd insisted on wearing. The crowbars peering out of his sleeves like evil hands.

Joselyn thought she heard a noise in the distance but ignored it; they'd be leaving soon anyway.

Grave turned his head a bit and seemed to contemplate Cody, he signaled with his head for Cody to leave. Apparently she had been right about the order to retreat. Grave ran down the street much they he must have two weeks ago when he injured her. He was swift and if Joselyns concern was true, crazed as well.

It took him no time to reach Joselyns building and as usual he had a surprise for her, no matter how trivial it may seem –and sometimes it did. He scaled the building; he couldn't go inside and climb the stairs like a normal person could he?

Apparently not, he would probably excuse himself saying that he _wasn't_ normal.

Which may have been true, but Joselyn secretly thought he was more human than most people were. She thought she heard the sound again but dismissed it the same way.

He pounced from the lower floor and landed on the ledge, he was crouching and held out his crowbars much the way he might have held his hands. He looked directly at her, and just used every ounce of resistance in her to keep herself from making a face that would offend him.

His face looked so… _wrong_, his mouth and his eyes were larger, scarier. He looked like a demented anime character brought to life. He was cackling… it was a sound she was familiar with but not like this, it was more a clicking sound than an actual laugh, different than a human laugh.

The only thing that could have redeemed this was if his pupils had grown with the rest of his eye matter but she was not so lucky.

He did nothing for a few moments, just stared at her and scared her and not meaning to do it but unable to help it. At once he leaped to her and stopped just in front of her, Savior was on him in a moment but stopped quickly.

It would be a long time before Joselyn would understand what happened that day, but until then she would consider it a blessing and leave it at that.

Grave slid for a moment when he landed in front of Joselyn, he looked up to her face with a widening gleam on his face and undecipherable intentions, but once his nose was before her neck the aroma of ice and saccharine fire wafted into his nostrils. It rushed through his system the way the blood particles had; first his veins, then his muscles, then his skin and then his bones and with identical finality his face. He felt the effects reversed, his eyes and his mouth and other altered features squirm and writhe back into their normal shape.

Grave is normal again, and despite the atrocious amount of blood surrounding them the way salt and water surrounds an island he did not change back. Savior chose this moment to sheath his weapon. He signaled Joselyn without his words that they should get back to the whelps. She nodded and waved him away.

Grave wobbled badly, looking like he would collapse but he didn't, he just looked tired, his eyes were half closed and Joselyn thought it would be better if she beat the shit out of him later. Hyne knew he had it coming to him.

Instead of falling or regaining his balance Grave fell against Joselyn, coming awfully close to burying his face against her breast, but instead his face was on her neck, he smelled her… she thought she was mistaken for a moment but he did it again and she didn't know what to think.

Joselyn was unsure of what to do. He didn't seem himself but he didn't seem himself moments ago either. How many Graves were there? She wanted to hug him, and cry on his shoulder even if for a moment. She was angry still angry with him but she was simultaneously glad to see him again.

But then again he had smelled her, and if she got really technical she could pretend it was molestation. He smelled her again.

Time to get technical.

Joselyn tilted his head up softly by the chin with her left hand, and with her right she struck him in the skull with the butt of her rifle. She spoke before he had a chance to react.

"You are such a fucking bastard," she whispered quietly, and softly, like it was a nice thing to say like 'I missed you.'

This awakened him. It took a few moments for him to totally take it in but Joselyn was crying and wielding her rifle as a blunt instrument against him and he wasn't sure why. He staggered back but caught himself before he fell off of the building, Joselyn didn't make any move to help him. Grave decided he was in quite the predicament; he was alone on a roof top with a crazy sniper who was hitting him, who he didn't want to hit back, and Joselyn hit hard.

Joselyn hit _really_ hard.

What the hell had he done?

"Why's that?" he asked stupidly, he frowned when Joselyn removed her face from her free hand and looked at him, he hadn't noticed she'd been holding her face.

Her face was red with more than just blood –presumably from his hair—she'd been crying. Her eyes were bloodshot and her skin was flushed. Grave felt a bit guilty, not because of what he'd done, he didn't know what that was, but because he'd done something wrong again. It seemed there was just no winning with women sometimes.

"I thought you were dead!" she burst, she couldn't wait to scold him any longer, he'd hurt her, and it was in her human nature to want to hurt him back.

"…sorry…" he said lamely, and he mentally slapped himself for sounding so deadpan.

Joselyn just scowled, she marched away from him fast, down the stairs and at a regrettable yet safe distance away from him. She didn't say anything. Grave didn't waste time standing there; he followed her and her silence respectively.

When they were in the streets once more they scanned the area for Cody but he was nowhere to be seen. The words that he must have gone to their Whelp already went unspoken and un-ignored by both of them.

They walked quickly, not yet jogging but on the verge of it, Joselyn was anyway. She was happy Grave was safe but at the same time she didn't want to be near him. She could forgive him later.

Her train of thought and both of their paces were halted simultaneously when they heard the sounds of machinery; Grave didn't need to recognize it because Joselyn did. They took another step and heard the sound again. One more step, and the sound came up more. They drew their weapons and looked around them frantically. They forgot about their personnel issues quickly as the reptilian layers of their brains kicked into high gear.

It was twelve feet behind them, the X-ATM092 busted out of a rather large building that upon closer inspection, they admitted it did look more suspicious than the other buildings. It was closing in fast and rather than playing the role of the fearless heroes they decided to be sensible human beings.

They ran like scared little Moombas.

They ran as fast as they could but the Black Widow was gaining on them predictably, and they weren't very close to the Whelp landing sight. Joselyn swallowed hard, they would have to _fight_ it.

Joselyn stopped and turned around, looking admittedly braver than she really felt, and Grave stopped moments after looking at her like she'd just sprouted wings and given birth to a thousand fire ants.

Was she fucking crazy?

The Black Widow surprisingly stopped as well, recognizing its targets as opponents to be dispatched rather than civilians… to be dispatched.

Joselyn was obviously not going to budge; she would either die or defeat the thing and die going back to their jet, so he had to stay too. He knew what to do; he didn't want to do it because it would be dangerous even for him, but he had to do it didn't he? Grave armed himself and stood beside Joselyn, he whispered to her, she yelled that she couldn't hear so he whispered again, noticeably agitated.

"What variant is Maduin?" he asked harshly.

"Electricity," she said sounding annoyed at first, but then there was a glint in her eye that said she understood.

It was a long but there was a chance they could get away. Joselyn knew this was hardly the time to celebrate but she understood now the questions on the quiz they'd taken that morning. All the questions were relevant to the mission they were going on. Their mission was to dispatch Galbadian soldiers, and where one found Galbadian soldiers, one would often find at least one Black Widow. To know what one was would be even the tiniest bit helpful.

Joselyn closed her eyes and focused on summoning Maduin, hoping against hope that Grave wouldn't do anything rash to keep the mechanical monster at bay.

Grave leapt on top of the Black Widow; or rather he leapt, caught the Black Widows head with his crowbars and climbed on top of it like a child playing on the jungle gym for the first time. The Hyne forsaken thing was oscillating like a mechanical bull now leaving Grave with few options but to jump off and hope it didn't tear his vulnerable comrade to bits while she was summoning.

Not likely.

He instead found a plate on top of the machines so called head and latched his crowbars onto it, he allowed himself to be flailed back and forth embarrassingly. Grave was typically not squeamish –obviously—but he decided it might be good to vomit before getting back on the Whelp, else he get it all over Joselyn.

The poor girl was pissed enough at him as it was.

After what seemed like an hour the Black Widow was thankfully still distracted by Grave, who was flung off of the Black Widow but not without reward. He struck the cliff side hard but remained conscious. It was worth it, the steel plate once protecting vital circuits inside the machines head piece clattered on the dirt near him.

Finishing their half-assed plan, Grave watched as he and Joselyn vanished. Grave took this opportunity to look at his hand. It was transparent now like beige and black cellophane and vanished still. He watched until there was nothing, until he had not even eyes to watch with.

_**EG**_

Being a machine the Black Widow had no sense of confusion. Therefore, when its enemies vanished leaving no trace, as if they had never been there at all, it was forced to stall for a moment, to wait. Its creators knew their enemies tricks, they knew certain things about the way their enemy fought, and that included certain little details.

The Galbadians had programmed for the Black Widows to pause when encountered with this situation. They knew that when a Guardian Force was summoned its summoners temporarily left the battle field so as not to be harmed by their own weapon.

The programmers did not however, program the Black Widow to avoid any sort of attack; such was the arrogance they felt with their mechanical skills. And although on other matters that arrogance was valid, it certainly was not now.

The clouds overhead swirled and darkened like chocolate syrup blending into milk. They continued to stir and swirl and change until the clouds formed a ball which descended from the heavens, leaving a blue sky and bits of rain and thunder in its wake. The bits of cloud and thunder returned to the sky and brewed the guardian's power for it when the time came to attack. The cloud came away from the body like dandelion seeds blown into the wind by a leaf blower, and there before the Black Widow was its new target, or target was the word it used, for it had not the concept of superior.

Maduin took its moment of freedom to glance at the landscape as well as its designated enemy. His chocolate fur billowed in the wind created alone by his summoning. His horns and face the shapes of nobility and pride manifest.

Maduin stopped his reverie. It would only look like inane, frivolous stalling to his human masters; humans had that bothersome habit of not understanding the emotions of other things after all.

Maduin curled into a ball quickly and summoned the electricity from the clouds above to his horns and his back. It struck him but he did not stir, the power was the water to his duck, so it simply rolled off of him and around him. The energy curled on his back and in the same motion as his unfolding from his curl, he stretched the Chaos Wings and flapped the energy into his enemy.

Most of the bolts were attracted to the Black Widows head for reasons that were lost on Maduin. He thought that electricity was supposed to be conducted to all manner of his enemy's bodies, but this was the world of men now after all, they found the strangest ways to change things.

Without further attack or reverie on his part Maduin allowed his counterfeit physical form to dissolve. He regretted his brief time in the physical plane, for although it was the world of men now, it was still the world he had once lived in, and he did miss it.

_**EG**_

Grave and Joselyn re-manifested when the smoke cleared and the sparks died down. They returned in the same spots where they had vanished, Grave on one side of the wreckage by a Cliffside, and Joselyn on the other side of the wreckage on the path back to the Whelps. Grave was the first to open his eyes, but Joselyn was the first to speak.

"Grave!" she yelled rather desperately "are you okay?" he didn't answer for a moment, but he soon got up and dusted off his ruined cadet uniform.

Good riddance.

"Yeah I'm fine," _except my bones hurt a little, but you probably don't care about that right now do you?_

Joselyn didn't say anymore, but she rounded the Black Widow looking like she wanted to just drag him back to the Whelp without further delays, they would be abandoned at this rate.

Before she could reach him and do just that –it was indeed her intention—he jumped onto one leg of the monstrous heap, and made his way across its broad back to the fried circuits on its head. Joselyn stopped in her tracks and gaped angrily.

"What in the name Fuck are you doing?"

"If we don't do anything this thing will just get up again," she gave him a disbelieving look, he continued, "if you don't completely obliterate these things then they just reboot and chase you more, but there are some wires in the 'head' that deactivate the thing if they're pulled correctly." He pulled a rather large cord out of the machine, which hung limply like an electric yellow noodle against the Black Widows 'face.'

"Oh and how did you come across this convenient information?" she asked with a barbed tongue and a feminine temper.

_I wonder if Estrogen flares the temper_, Grave thought idly. "Library book," he said simply, and removed another wire, this one blue.

Joselyn said nothing; she just rolled her eyes and sighed as if to say 'that figures.' She seemed to want to distract herself with something, anything really. She examined the machine curiously as if to confirm something until something dawned on her. She addressed him again.

"So what happens if you pull them incorrectly?" she asked warily like she didn't want to ask him.

"It turns into time bomb, reboots and seeks out the nearest enemies and explodes," he said far too nonchalantly, he took a moment to take in her shocked look, "it's a kamikaze thing," he turned back to his work and pulled a red wire, they were large, much like electric guitar chords.

"I know what it is! Why the hell are you doing this then?"

"Because if we do nothing then it'll just reboot and we'll have to fight it again, this is standard procedure," he said almost reassuringly, like making it out alive _without_ doing this would somehow be worse.

Joselyn forced herself to relax a bit, Grave was being calm about this, which meant that he knew what he was doing. It was impossible for anyone –even Grave—to be so unconcerned about such a delicate procedure, wasn't it?

"Do you know how to do this?" she asked warily once again.

"Nah, these are color coded, and everything in the manual I read was blue, in fact I think that each one is different, its seems kind of random act…" he didn't get to finish, Joselyn was screaming now, comically actually, she didn't seem to be genuinely afraid, just distressed.

"Ya know you're cute when you're in peril," he said quickly, but not too quick for her, even while shouting, he went on without her listening, "not to say that you're never cute." She didn't look too pleased.

"Oh this is great," she began, "I am teamed up with a guy who is capable of sarcasm while standing on top of a potentially explosive instrument. I've never been this fucking happy in _all, my, life_," she finished melodramatically, and for a brief time Grave wondered if she would do one of those Garden Festival plays.

Probably not, actresses are often asked to wear dresses from what he had observed.

Grave plucked the last cord from the Black Widow and jumped ceremoniously from the machine, then landed unceremoniously at Joselyns feet, who didn't offer to help him up.

She was still bitter apparently, damn. Grave stood up, and they both dusted themselves off in vain.

"We should go now, don't know what it's going to do," he said as they started to leave.

"What do you mean, isn't it dead now? You just deactivated it didn't you?"

"We won't find out for a few minutes but we should leave now, hopefully we won't find out at all."

Joselyn shrugged in agreement and they set off at a fast pace, hoping they hadn't been left behind. She was about to say something when a sound interrupted her.

They had only rounded the corner of the other cliff side when it stood up again. They turned around stupidly, they couldn't see it yet, but they could hear it. And for the second time that day Joselyn was reminded of a movie she had seen once, it involved green

T-Rexaur and a rippling cup of water. Again the title escaped her.

They looked at each other simultaneously, the same way empty headed adolescent victims did just before the villain swung out of the shadows with a big machete, but unlike _those_ adolescents they chose not to stall anymore and once again they became scared Moombas.

It only took the Black Widow a few moments to come into view again. They ran, and Joselyn didn't stop this time, this time fighting it would mean death no matter what they did. And she had already sustained more damage than she'd planned for to begin with. Their Whelp was in sight now and Joselyn was surprised they hadn't been caught yet; maybe Maduin had given the Black Widow a limp. She wouldn't count herself that lucky and she was too afraid to look behind her. The sound of engines and pistons and sparks was beginning to sound exactly like impending doom.

They were panting hard and their muscles were starting to give out, particularly Grave since he'd spent so much time in the battlefield when Joselyn had spent all of her time many yards away. She was tired too, and fear was clutching the inside her knees, running slower, sweating faster.

Next to the whelp they saw a figure of bright yellow light, and though their eyes were blurry with fluids they'd rather not identify it quickly became obvious that it was Instructor Trepe, glowing like pure magic for some reason.

For once Joselyn was grateful to see her.

Grave would never let her hear the end of it.

Trepe held up one hand in the distance and above her an orb of watery energy manifested. For many moments it did nothing and Joselyn cursed her loudly –although it may as well have been silent since only she and Grave could hear her expletives. The ball startled them both when it stretched into a shaft of bright energy, just as bright as its caster fired into a ridiculous direction far away from its target, then swept over their heads.

Neither could resist turning around. Below the offending machines claws the ground was molten with magic. It continued moving over it and still moved forward slightly after the ground burst and sent the Black Widow high into the air.

They didn't watch it fall back down; they ran back to the Whelp and leaped inside telling themselves they'd thank the Instructor later. Inside only Cody waited, he looked at them questioningly, clearly more than one question swimming in his bland eyes. Grave put on his restraints, the reminded Joselyn to do it to when she neglected.

Less than a minute later they were in the air, gratefully exhaling their fear and relishing the feeling of unused adrenaline tingling in their bodies. It took them a while to catch their breath, and once their lungs were comfortable again Joselyn broke the silence.

"So that's a Black Widow," she asked Grave, who only faced her as much as his restraints would allow and nodded.

"It totally looks like a Crab," she said matter-of-factly.

"You said it," he responded approvingly.

"Galbadians are fucking retarded," he nodded again, then they closed their eyes and let rest saturate them, and they were grateful for it.

Joselyn adjusted her skirt.

_The reviewer who guesses the movie references I made gets nothing because they're so damn obvious. I hope this part wasn't too Grave and Joselyn heavy, I know this is a fanfiction so original characters maybe shouldn't play this big of a part but I couldn't help myself. This chapter was weird; because I started writing this story a couple of years before began submitting regularly, so parts one and two were written within about two years time or so, and THIS chapter hadn't started at all then which means that I wrote this in a months time. I think this is amazing because this chapter is about two thousand words longer than its predecessors. I've been considering changing my pen-name but I'm not sure if I care enough. Maybe now that I'm getting an original story published I'll have too. Well, read and review please, I can't wait to see what you think._


	4. The SeeD Inauguration

_Disclaimer and A/N: I don't own it, you know it, and I know it. I also don't own 'The Limerick' the song I used for this chapter or Cheerio's. I know that Centra had no civilization in the game, but we can pretend can't we? If we couldn't we wouldn't read at all._

_**Xahra99**: Hooray! The other Madam Seiftis has reviewed me; I now have both halves of the golden Seiftis amulet mwah ha ha! I know it's kind of pretentious to describe the game characters but I was picturing most in other outfits. And you're probably right about the 'Main Characters Must Look Cool Clause'. As for the OC's their appearances are relevant to the story, you'll see. For a reply to the words before dialogue refer to replies in the last chapter and the above A/N. And I am certainly not insulted; I'm thrilled to have your opinion of my writing and I'm even more thrilled that you think I have any kind of strength. I hope you work out those problems of yours since I'm a selfish reader of RTS, thanks for reviewing!_

_**Juusan Ikkiuchi & Juusan Ikkiuchi**__: Marvelous! I have a __**LOYAL READER) reader) **_**reader)**_ now, I am happy, I feel like a successful writer now. Yes, a whiff of Seifer, you can expect more of him but they will only be whiffs. The amount of time I give each character is random, but there will be other chapters where most of the focus is on Grave and Joselyn. Thank you, thank you, I'm glad I'm giving good imagery, that's what I'm shooting for. Sorry, didn't mean to hurt ya._

_**Selphie Kinneas & Selphie Kinneas**: Bow down to the merciless length of my chapters Bwah ha hah ha! Keep reading about Fujin, you'll get it. Glad you think Quistis is down right, and that the characters improve in the following chapters. More Seifer later, the main conflict will happen in a couple more months. I'm glad that the point about Grave at the library got across 'cause that's what it was for. Thanks about Grave, I try. As for no France in FF8, I said that because I mentioned 'French Toast', I'm just being technical._

_**Dark Fortuna:** I agree part three is definitely an improvement on the first two. Thank you!_

_**Scent Of The Tulip: **Wow, a treasure huh? That's definitely one of the grander compliments I've received. I'm not sure how many chapters I'll have exactly; it's looking like ten plus an epilogue. I'm happy that you appreciate the details because that's like 70% of my writing. It's good that you don't mind seeing Grave and Joselyn often because that seems to be becoming my habit. I'm glad that you like it and that I'm improving, that's what I'm doing this for._

_She can do anything at all, have anything she pleases_

_The power to change what she thinks is wrong, so what could she want with me?_

_But wait just one minute here I can see that she's trying to read me, suddenly I know._

_She's going to change the world, but she can't change me_

_No she can't change me._

_She has the daylight at her command; she gives the night its dreams_

_She can uncover your darkest fears and make you forget you feel it_

_But wait just one minute more I can see that she's trying to free me, suddenly I know._

_She's going to change the world, but she can't change me_

_No she can't change me._

_Suddenly I can see everything that's wrong with me, but what can I do?_

_I'm the only thing I really have at all._

_But wait just one minute here I can see that she's trying to need me, suddenly I know._

_She's going to change the world, but she can't change me_

_No she can't change me._

_Can't Change Me by Chris Cornell._

**Part Four: The SeeD Inauguration**

**Sleep Deprivation**

The whelps landed with a disorganized orchestra of hisses and the cadets leapt from them with infinitely less grace. Grave and Joselyn in fact stumbled like string puppets handled by a drunkard. Cody was walking more evenly than anybody else, but that was because he was using half of his assembled spear as a walking stick. The sense of triumph that would be expected on their faces was counteracted by fatigue which was acceptable, now was not the time to celebrate anyway, now was the time to rest.

Although she was still angry with him, Joselyn and Grave leaned against one another for support, and together ignored Cody's suggestive comments about their physical contact. Cody shook his head, smiled, and said something like 'sooner or later,' but neither Grave or Joselyn cared to contemplate it.

The many surviving cadets along with their Instructors and PesticidEs filed out of the Hangar like ants from the suspiciously dusted crack in the sidewalk. Some carrying their weapons over their head because they claimed it was easier to walk that way. Everyone else was too tired to question that absurdity, in fact they were too tired to care they had just killed people, and therefore too tired for anything.

That was probably why the Headmaster had decided to make an announcement at that moment.

Everybody stopped in the hallway leading to the Hangar. The cadets didn't stop until their superiors made them because they were too tired to notice the Headmaster addressing them at the other end of the hall, and only after a time of rib poking and hushed nagging did they salute with their Instructors and bodyguards.

The Headmaster waved dismissively and everybody thankfully rested their arms. Small commotions ensued and only when it stopped did the Headmaster speak.

"I've come here to inform you the SeeD inauguration will be postponed," there was a minimal amount of talking amongst the youngest people before he spoke again.

"The rest of today is free to you, you may do what you like but I suggest that you sleep," grunts of agreement spouted forth quietly.

"Tomorrow will be the Garden Festival, for details about that speak with SeeD Selphie Tilmitt, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to talk about it. The day after is when the SeeD inauguration will actually take place, please report to the second floor hallway to await your graduation news," with that he turned heel and left, not waiting to be saluted as usual.

Disdainful grunts arose all around, however verbal complaints were minimal. Everybody staggered out of the Hangar, and eventually crowded around the elevator. Cody was unfortunately out of sight already, as was Instructor Trepe so Joselyn whispered to Grave about the staircase.

"You know there's a hidden door in the training center hallway, it has a staircase in it," she said happily, like someone gossiping might sound.

"Really?" he asked disbelieving, just as the first group of people entered the elevator, it was clear that it would take a while for everyone to get to the second floor.

"Yup," she said a bit proudly.

Grave grunted in approval and they lumbered together away from the crowd. Nobody seemed to notice but Cody, and both of them knew what he was thinking and cared far less.

They reached the Training Center hallway with no troubles besides the ones they already had. After they arrived Grave unhooked his arm from Joselyns waist and leaned against the wall while she searched for the indent of the door. Grave exhaled a long breath and slid ass first to the floor as he did so.

"So when did you find this thing?" he asked once he'd made himself comfortable.

"About thirteen days ago, I think it was my first day of classes, right before I went to the Special Skills class," she said running her hands along the wall opposite Grave, her efforts so far appeared fruitless and rightfully she looked exasperated.

"The other wall perhaps?" normally he might use a mocking tone with her when saying that, but again, he was far too fatigued.

"Yeah, maybe," she took his advice and ran her hands along the other wall. Grave took the moment to appreciate Joselyn while she wasn't looking, this certainly didn't mean that Cody was right about them –whatever it was he thought of them Grave wasn't entirely sure but it was definitely something impossible—but he was still a man and there were some things that a man just had to do.

She may have been bloody, and sweaty, and dirty, and haggard looking, but she was still pretty. She had a few minutes ago unzipped her jacket and her white shirt soaked with sweat was exposed –her bra much to Graves chagrin was dark blue—and there was a clear smudge of color on her stomach to be seen through the transparent garment. If Grave was not mistaken it was slightly boot shaped, he would have to question her about that.

And where in the world was Carbuncle?

"What happened to our PesticidE? I don't remember seeing her after I jumped out," he didn't miss the looks on her face, the one she made when he mentioned the bodyguard _and_one she made when he mentioned jumping out of the jet.

"She was a traitor, Savior and I think she was a spy," Grave looked very alarmed, trying to gather all of the information that brought.

"You need to report that," he said more urgently than he needed to.

"I know, I'll report it after the Headmaster tells us we've graduated," she said with not a hint of arrogance, she was probably too tired.

Joselyn shook her arms and tugged in her skirt.

"Do you really hate skirts that much?" he asked honestly.

"_Yes_," she said with a tone more urgent than the one Grave had used moments before. "I can't stand them, they're uncomfortable and I just know somebody's going to try to look up it eventually."

"Nobodies going to look up your skirt," he said dismissively, and Joselyn whirled.

"And why not?" she asked sounding insulted for some reason.

"'Cause you'd probably remove their eyes if someone did that," he said matter-of-factly, not even looking at her when he said it, Joselyn softened noticeably for no one present to notice.

"Well… that's right!" she turned back to her work at the wall and laughed triumphantly.

"Ha hah, I found it!" she pulled the door open with both arms and approached Grave again.

Grave used all of his might to slide back up the wall. He almost knocked Joselyn over when he leaned on her again, but she still had enough grace to catch herself. She slung her arm over his shoulder and he wrapped one arm around her waist again, trying much harder than Joselyn was to ignore the implications of the contact.

Joselyn flicked on the light switch and they traveled slowly up the stairs slowly. The lights flickered looking as unsure as inanimate things were capable of, which in their shared opinion –neither knew the opinion was shared—was very much like a human's uncertainty. They questioned together in silence if there could be a metaphor for that 'The average human's uncertainty is much like an aged fluorescent light' or something to that effect.

They tended to be like this when they were tired and in one another's company. Without anybody else of course, neither could remember having that with acquaintances or friends, past or present –of course this was a subject that would concern the Guardian Forces but they preferred to not think about that tax.

The merits of spending their evenings together were not something to talk about for that would defeat the purpose of those merits. When they weren't discussing something; when Grave wasn't being pleasantly egregious –pleasantly to him—when Joselyn wasn't indulging her bothersome habits, they were either relaxed or they were tired, and when they were in that condition they contemplated little things silently and simultaneously.

Anyone other than Cody and themselves would look on this behavior as an uneasy truce, but he knew as well as they did that it was a great comfort they had for each other.

That and Graves cooking were the primary reasons Joselyn chose to continue rooming with him.

The ache in Graves neck was bothering him to no end but there was a certain danger to relaxing more. Being much shorter than Joselyn and being in their position would put his head near a 'Danger Zone' as Cody liked to put it. Many a male cadet had tried their luck with Joselyn on more than one level, and luckily for them each one came out of it better than Tucker had.

The devil on Graves shoulder hit him in the head with his pitchfork points first. Clearly his mischievous side was angry with him; things had been that way for almost two weeks now. They were halfway up the stairs and Joselyn was clearly oblivious of his torment, he wanted to relax more but his shoulder devil seemed to have taken a fiery chainsaw to the back of his neck, and it certainly didn't help that his shoulder 'angel' was reading a Girl Next Door magazine again.

Grave rested his head on Joselyns shoulder, and their movement made his cheek brush very gently against her breast ever couple of seconds but Joselyn didn't seem to notice or care. Grave took a deep sigh of relief which Joselyn did notice; she only looked at him and raised the eyebrow currently partially hidden –due to his view point—but said nothing.

At the top of the stairs they found a minimal amount of generic cadets, apparently some of the students had already made it up the elevator and had been called in or denied. They were much like the ones Joselyn had imagined two weeks before she found out that Grave was Cody's room mate.

The Trepies were only set apart from the rest of the group because they were congregated together against one section of the wall nearest the archway. Other paced –many paced—like kittens in hollow television sets. Others whistled or snapped their fingers, if Joselyn wasn't mistaken there were probably more nervous habits to be seen than there were cadets, but that couldn't be right.

They found Cody with female cadet; he was talking more quickly than the other cadets, perhaps he was rejuvenated by the girl. They went unnoticed by him for the time being and sat down against the wall with him and reluctantly broke apart.

They said nothing, and although they were surrounded by others no one was speaking to them. They sat side by side in slightly different positions –they might have been sitting the same way but Joselyn was wearing her dreaded skirt. They took in the smells of fatigue and their own scents respectively, secretly as usual.

For fifteen minutes they allowed reverie and aroma to have their currently fluid attention spans, until a PesticidE with disproportionately broad shoulders stepped into the hallway and called attention to himself by coughing loudly. Everybody's heads perked up and silence ensued.

All stood in the same motion, the kicking of shoes, the snapping of fingers, the hand gestures while talking amongst one another, the downcast heads of those who lost loved ones minutes ago. All stood still, Grave and Joselyn were the only ones still sat and watched with half closed eyes.

The PesticidE coughed again –this time a genuine cough—and began calling out the names.

"Highwind… Cody Highwind please come this way." Cody hopped up with an amount of energy no human should be issued after a field exam, and marched proudly to the elevator.

"Abgestossen…" the bodyguard paused and gave an air of un-sureness for a moment "Will Joselyn Abgestossen please come this way?" She stood up slowly and looked at Grave hopefully, he enjoyed her concern for him, but he nodded so she would be on her way.

Joselyn left a bit reluctantly and only after she reached the elevator did the bodyguard speak again. He paused for a moment and scanned the hallway.

"Grave, will Grave please follow the other students," Grave smiled like a lizard might and left the other cadets to stare after him with sneers and general jealousy.

As he walked away Grave listened to them talk. There was no way of knowing if the PesticidE had tried for a note of finality with the last announcement, but it sounded to everyone as if he would be the last to graduate for the next six months.

They said their usual taunts and mocks and insult, most of which still bothered him, most insults never got old to Grave. He heard cadaver; he heard bastard, he heard lucky etc so on and so forth, but he swore that as he walked out of earshot he heard someone say 'demon;' he thought he heard it more than once.

He thought he heard it without contempt.

_**EG**_

Squall inspected the six teenagers standing in front of him. They stood upright like they had brooms inside their spines, their chins were high and they had not said a word, just like they were told. They were waiting for him to speak to them about their new occupations and to take to heart every word he spoke to them like he was the one they were designated to look up to.

He couldn't wait to quit.

He knew it was farce, these kids would break rules, they would mouth off and they would most likely make fun him just for being in charge. The often denied part of him –denied by others—wanted them to just be honest with him. There was something annoying and deceptive about their stance and their silence, the way they waited for him to act so that they could react.

But he knew that it was against protocol to do things such as smoking, slouching or chewing gum in front of the Headmaster because it was considered disrespectful. It was one of the rules he had not yet changed. But it was no matter now, soon Xu would be the Headmaster –or Headmistress as the sharp tongued feminist might put it—and she would no doubt want to keep that little rule. In fact she would probably change some of the rules _back_from the way he had changed them.

Squall chuckled, and too late realized the implications of chuckling at the new SeeDs before saying anything.

He coughed in an attempt for an etiquette recovery but he was only met with some dirty looks. But he was not insulted, he deserved them.

"Congratulations, you are the newest members of SeeD, the elite mercenary force of Garden." Their looks softened but it was most likely with boredom, Squall sympathized, he didn't like this speech either.

"As SeeD you will travel the world and serve whomever hires us. You will carry out your orders as instructed but that does not in any way mean that you will not make your own decisions," they seemed more interested at that point, as Almasy might have said

'A teenager enslaved is a teenager in rebellion.'

"You will be given orders, but if the situation ever conflicts with your mission –and it will," the three on the far right to Squall cracked small grins; it was Highwind and his friends.

"Then you are to assess the situation and change the plan as you see fit. We do not want you to defy our necessary protocol here at Garden, but at the same time we do not want you to be machines. You will make your Demonstration Videos after your graduation in two days; I wish you luck in the future." He saluted them and they saluted back, getting the most tedious formality out of the way for the day.

Next was one of the few parts of Squalls job that he enjoyed which were the private messages –as it turned out, those messages were not just Cid's whimsy, and it was really a part of the job.

He began at the far left with the most generic looking new recruits, three girls, each one from a different squad to whom he had nothing to say to really. He ventured to bet that the advice and comments he gave them would only be as memorable as the new recruits themselves.

Next was the Highwind boy, somehow more memorable than the average SeeD or Cadet, for no reason that was visual. There was only this friendliness about him that Squall hadn't seen matched by anyone, not even Selphie, and that was too frightening to think about.

"It is good that you trust your comrades as much as you do, but do not rely on them completely, remember that you're there too for a reason," the cadet nodded when he wasn't supposed to, which only made Squall favor him more.

Perhaps he was feeling too rebellious about this unwanted occupation of his, if he was praising students for doing what they weren't meant to do. Although many rules were foolish, Squall himself thought that 'Un-Requested Gestures In Front Of Headmaster' was nonsense.

Squall moved on to Miss Abgestossen. The girl whose height nearly matched Irvine's, it was actually very amusing since the height difference between men and women at the Garden favored men. If a cadet were to stand out due to height it was always a male cadet or SeeD, but this new white haired SeeD was a damned Amazon.

Squall tried to tip toe up to her ear awkwardly and could speak finally once Joselyn leaned down to him.

"You are a skilled leader, from what I understand you did a good job of working with your team, you can expect to be the captain on your first SeeD mission," the face the girl made was unreadable to Squall, it looked a touch like guilt but he decided that she was probably just tired.

Squall moved on to Grave with uncomfortably slow steps. The boy was eyeing him unpleasantly as if to say, 'I haven't forgotten that you're an asshole but I'm going to listen to you because I have to.' Squall leaned down this time, and luckily managed to successfully stifle the chuckle that came then.

"I hear that you have a nickname already after your exam, that's very impressive, most of us don't get nicknames at all," he said cryptically and chose not to mention the name, if Grave was anything like Squall –and Squall thought that he was—he would rather hear it from one of his friends.

The new SeeD looks dubious but says nothing, and before they can salute him once more he cuts them off. It had become like a game to Squall, how many salutes can you deny in one day? Receive five or less and you will win a boring lecture from Xu.

"You are all dismissed," he said and turned away from the students.

Squall expected the new SeeDs to disperse immediately but the Amazon Joselyn stayed put. She spoke briefly with her team mates who scoffed and snicker then left after the three generic girls, after a moment he was alone with the new SeeD.

She said nothing at first, and Squall raised an eyebrow in question to cue her. The girl continued to stand there for a moment and just before Squall decided he would speak so she would spit it out she spoke.

"I would like to make a request sir," she said dutifully, and said nothing more.

"What is that Miss Abgestossen?" He asked disinterested, but still paid the SeeD her attention.

"I would like a graduation uniform with a pair of pants if you please," She said seriously, and Squall almost laughed.

Instead he smiled; they had a tomboy on their hands it seemed.

"That sounds perfectly reasonable, I'll have a replacement delievered to your room soon." He said politely and leaned against his desk; he pressed the intercom button and waited for a moment before the fuzz cleared up and his voice would be heard clearly.

"Would Instructor Trepe please report to the Headmaster office, I repeat would Instructor Trepe please report to my office as soon as is convenient?" he released the intercom button and looked to the SeeD again.

He didn't miss her grin. It was tight with arrogance and Squall quickly regretted calling Quistis for the errand. The sinister interest on the girls face was all too familiar. But his mind mocked him 'too late' so he let it rest. Surely Quistis could deal with this girl, and hopefully she wouldn't be insulted by this gopher mission.

"Is that all?" he asked tiredly.

"No actually," she said and straightened upon her reminder.

"I have something to report." She said and paused, Squall shot her an annoyed look and gestured for her to continue.

"PesticidE Carbuncle was a traitor, she tried to kill me." She paused once again at the alarmed face Squall made. "That isn't all sir. During out combat Carbuncles sword…" she stopped another moment looking a loss for words.

"Yes?" he asked expectantly.

"It disappeared sir, it sparked a bit and then there was a flash, then the weapon was gone," she said slowly, clearly the girl was still taking it in herself.

"I see," he said looking and sounding as bothered as he was. "Care to elaborate on this SeeD Abgestossen?" he asked dubiously, feeling something akin to awkwardness in the air, lighter, but still akin.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Headmaster," she said regretfully.

"Is that all?" he asked and rubbed the bridge of his nose in hopes of distracting himself from the confusion.

"No sir," she said and didn't miss the Headmasters insulting sigh, neither did she miss a bit before she continued. "I was rescued by PesticidE Savior, if you want further elaboration you should speak with him." She said professionally and if Squall was not mistaken she also began to stand stiffer.

Squall sighed again and ruffled his hair. This was very serious, a traitor among the bodyguards would not reflect well in the eyes of the students and certainly not certain authority figures to B-Garden –some had not taken a liking to the PesticidE's since their identities were kept secret and few who applied were turned down. It was theorized that some were criminals, and this incident would likely push the bodyguards in the direction of elimination.

Squall was reminded of the SeeDs presence when she coughed loudly. He elevated his head and quietly took in the annoyed look on the girls face. He coughed himself and straightened his hair, he continued to rearrange himself in the fashion for a few moments and spoke again.

"Thank you for that report, it will be a great help to us." _It will also be a great pain._

"Thank you and you are welcome Headmaster," she said appreciatively and turned her heel and left his office, not giving him a chance to say they were done or to reply.

Squall walked around his desk and sat back down. The new SeeD was already out of sight once he sat down, and soon he heard the relieving ding of the elevator. Immediately he considered taking a quick nap on his desk again but he didn't think that he could get away with it. Not with Xu suspiciously wandering around the area, sniffing around for his unregistered breaks like a dog sniffing out cocaine.

And certainly not with Quistis coming to his office in a few minutes, being sisterly with him like she was and with her new found errand she would likely be inclined to rat him out to Xu, or worse, Rinoa. His bride was convinced that he was getting enough sleep considering how much of it he had been doing, but that was no way to judge how much sleep somebody needed Squall had learned.

Squall chose not to work while nobody was looking, rare were these opportunities, all the better to quit, surely Xu had it in her to do what he literally fell asleep doing himself so often.

Eventually Squall left his desk. He went into the break room not far from his so called office, nobody was there. Luckily the coffee pot was full of the bitter liquid, and made cold by the harsh air conditioning. He selected the one cup that had not been placed there by Selphie –most of the mugs bore images of pink sparkles or cute things, and one that Squall particularly abhorred had a clumsily painted image of Laguna's face of it, needless to say Selphie had made that one herself.

Normally Squall took his coffee with some cream and sugar but he didn't think of it, too tired, tired like the cadets. His slow pace had turned a three minute walk into a fifteen minute trek, his steps were turtle like, and that for some reason reminded him of Selphie too. He seemed to be reminded of her often lately.

It was probably because he'd been thinking a lot about Laguna as of late as well.

Squall smelled what scent there was to smell of the cold upper, for some reason preferring the smell of coffee when it was cold. He rounded his desk and sat down in the leather chair of his that was now becoming more of a bother than leisure, yet another bolt popped off but the chair held. Squall got back to work immediately and the moment he thought he'd doze off; he poured the coffee directly onto his head.

_**EG**_

Quistis rounded the elevator in front of Squalls 'office' and wriggled her nose at the smell of cold coffee. Squall didn't seem to notice that she was there; in fact he looked suspiciously engrossed in his work. Quistis reached his desk and tapped the mahogany twice. Squall looked up and quickly which shook off numerous droplets of something dark and cold.

Quistis wiped a droplet of the substance off of the desk and sniffed it, she eyed it looking a tad alarmed and licked it off of her glove. She looked at Squall like he had become an animated musical instrument or something to that effect.

"Squall why is there cold coffee on your head?"

"I was getting tired," he replied normally, like it was an everyday habit like brushing ones own teeth.

Quistis remained perplexed and wisely chose to swerve and avoid the subject.

"…um, you called me for something?" she asked finally touching on something else.

"Oh, yes. You don't need to sit down this will be quick." Quistis only nodded, and absently followed the drops of coffee when Squall didn't speak; they struck his white sleeves and splattered a bit surrounding the large stains with smaller specks.

"I want you to clear your schedule two days from now before the SeeD inauguration. It's about your job." Her face contorted painfully but luckily Squall was not looking, she tried to force her unconcerned mask back on to her face when Squall looked up and noticed her distress.

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad. In fact I think you'll be pleased," he showed her a rare smile and she softened.

She returned the smile with a questioning glance, not only for the smile but also for the implication. She was about to say something but too soon Squall interrupted her.

"Oh, and could you deliver a different graduation uniform to SeeD Abgestossen's cadet dorm? She's apparently a skirt hater," he asked feigning casualness and humor, but Quistis didn't miss the twinge of hope in his voice.

She frowned, she was not interested in running a little errand like this but she knew with dour certainty that Squall would have a bad excuse ready and she would not want to refuse. Always going soft on Squall, it seemed that she couldn't help herself in that department.

"Fine, I need to talk to her anyway," she half lied.

"Good, you know where the Graduation Uniforms are kept so that's all," he said feigning a Cid like kindness and kept a level stare with her that would no doubt last until she chose to leave.

"I'll see you later Squall," she said with genuine thoughtfulness and left the office, she rounded the pilot's elevator to the normal elevator and tried entering too quickly for the doors.

Quistis chose not to reason why Squall would ask her to do this but she could only assume that it was because he wanted to see her anyway. The news about her job would no doubt weigh closely on her mind.

It would please her he said. Quistis was dubious, she wasn't sure if Squall was too grand a judge of what made her happy. In fact she was pleased with her job as it was. It couldn't be an increase in work load or pay. Because her work load was at its maximum and her pay would only increase if her workload corresponded accordingly.

Admittedly a full fledged promotion would be disappointing as well, in its own pleasing sort of way. Quistis was not one to complain about a bigger paycheck but her heart was in teaching. She decided that anything concerning politics she would abruptly turn down, politics was sleep inducing, and personally she didn't feel she was any kind of bloodsucker so politics was definitely out of the question.

She exited the elevator and rushed as quickly as her walk could take her to the supplies room. The supplies room was located by a hidden door in the Training Center hallway next to the secret staircase. Once upon a time it was located in the back room of the Infirmary where most medical supplies were currently stored. But there had been trouble with theft and inconvenience for the Doctor and other such things, so a new room was built in the Training Center hall.

It was inevitable for someone to find it eventually. Adolescents and children were extremely curious animals by nature, and even the most hidden things could be proved inadequately concealed.

Quistis arrived in the designated hallway and found the hidden stairway was just that. The door to the stairway was cracked open carelessly. She clopped furiously on the verge of sprinting and swung open the door once she reached it. The lights were still on and the door at the top was closed securely unlike its counterpart beside her.

Quistis only sighed, her mild fury subsided and she reasoned that she had no way of knowing who used the door. It was only a meek offence after all; this was what they got for not designating PesticidEs to the Training Center entryway she supposed.

Quistis flicked off the lights and sealed the door and without a second thought threw open the supplies room door. Leaving it open she allowed the carelessness of the mysterious students carelessness take her as well. There would be no difference she thought.

Inside the supply room was surprisingly large. Nobody ever seemed to think what took up the spaces in the walls in between B-Gardens different areas. Most were currently empty space, and if Quistis wasn't mistaken there were plans to fill the other areas, most likely with more PesticidE rooms.

Quistis located the Graduation uniforms and selected the largest pants outfit she could find and left quickly. She shut the door and shifted her eyes cautiously, feeling almost fugitive like for the students negligence –if indeed it had been a student, surely a staff member wouldn't leave the door cracked or the lights on carelessly.

After some exaggerated clopping round the elevator pillar and through the halls, and a few minutes of routine agile Treppie dodging, Quistis found Grave and Joselyns cadet dorm. She rapped the door and was only greeted by loud sounds from inside the room. She was not answered so she rapped much harder and after a few seconds Joselyns half dressed body answered. Quistis spoke before Joselyn could.

"Here is the new uniform you requested, I can take the other one now if you like," she said quickly, doing her best to leave no room for sarcasm or hostility in their exchange.

"Um, sure, uh," she giggled hysterically for a moment but recovered quickly. "Come in?" she asked and held her breath, apparently she was having trouble using full sentences.

The girl could be as bad as Fujin sometimes.

"Sure." Quistis said uncertainly and stepped in after Joselyn who promptly went into her room.

Quistis looked to Grave who was sitting at the table with his feet propped up with a large book in his hands. He was giggling and looked uncharacteristically happy. Quistis beamed unnoticed and had to wonder what had both of her former students sharing so cheerfully. Grave spoke before she asked.

"_There was a young squaw of Wohunt,_

_Who possessed a collapsible cunt._

_It had many odd uses,_

_Produced no papooses,_

_And fitted both giant and runt,_" all at once Grave snickered, Joselyn giggled girlishly from her room and Quistis went stiff with embarrassment.

Grave glanced up from the book and unpredictably his grin remained in place. Apparently the boy had no shame to speak of, had Quistis been caught reading that in front of one of her teachers when she had been a student she would have seen detention faster than even Seifer normally had.

As Joselyn re-entered the room and handed Quistis the unopened cellophane package Quistis opened her mouth to speak but Grave beat her to it. He looked back at the book and Joselyn watched him expectantly.

"_There was a young monk from Dundee_

_Who hung a nun's cunt in a tree._

_He grabbed her fair ass_

_And performed a high mass_

_That even the Pope came to see."_ Graves face contorted in amusement and he had to set the book on the table for fear of dropping it.

Next to Quistis Joselyn was leaning on her knees. She couldn't see her face but she guessed that her face looked no different from Graves for their laughter sounded awfully similar –similar in the way of mirth rather than accent. This laughter for a moment had Quistis' attention. Normally when she heard Grave laugh it was not like this, more a clicking sound in fact, but now he sounded warm and… happy.

Her compassionate smile was mistaken as a filthy one due to the erotic words polluting the air. Perhaps polluting was the wrong word, for the room mates seemed to be thriving on it and nothing thrived on pollution but rot.

"Grave what on Gaia are you reading?" she asked hurriedly so as not to be interrupted again and made her way quickly to the table, she flipped the book to her end and read the cover.

"The Limerick, 'This is the largest collection of limericks ever published, erotic or otherwise. Of the 1700 printed here, none are otherwise,'" her tone altered from interest to something that sounded like amused disinterest and rolled her eyes; she flipped the book back to Grave and made her way to the door.

Grave opened the book again and before he could belt out another one Quistis pivoted on her heel and spoke.

"I almost forgot I need to inform you two that you will be rooming together in your SeeD apartment if that's okay with you," she said abruptly swiftly having their attention.

They simultaneously looked to Quistis, to each other, then to Quistis again. They looked equally dubious for a few moments

"I wouldn't mind sleeping on a couch," said Grave before he looked to Joselyn who shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't mind," she said untroubled, seeming to Quistis like she was only caught up in the moment.

Quistis said nothing about this though which was a touch selfish. Ideally she would interview them a bit to make sure they really _wanted_to continue rooming together to avoid possible outbursts in the future. And with these two an outburst would likely end disastrous.

Quistis was too tired to care however.

_**EG**_

"Is that all Instructor?" asks Joselyn who is clearly eager to get my other friends offending presence out of our room and not bothering to hide it.

Quistis' face goes sour quickly and she speaks again as if to spite Joselyn.

"Not quite SeeD Abgestossen," she says with startling accuracy that visibly impresses even Joselyn, as her friend I of course can't let her live that down, I'll need to make mockery plans for her later.

"Instead of moving in tonight you will move to your SeeD quarters after the Graduation ceremony two nights from now," she said with no amount of hearable spite, although surely Joselyn has no trouble imagining it.

I can tell that she's going to say something very offending to Instructor so I take this moment to interrupt her instead.

"This is my favorite one." I say pretending to ignore their little battle and they take after me in that manner, looking at me expectantly, even Quistis who doesn't seem altogether entertained like Joselyn and I.

"_There was a young lady from Teal,_

_who was raped in the lake by an eel._

_One morning at dawn_

_She gave birth to a prawn,_

_Two crabs, and a small baby seal,_" Joselyn absolutely spews laughter f and Quistis cracks a genuine smile.

I knew it would, the Zoophily section of this book would get to the most frigid of people. And Quistis isn't really frigid anyway.

"Well if that's all I'll be on my way," says Quistis and she immediately steps out the door leaving no room for being drawn in.

"Finally," Joselyn says with breathy finality, the poor girl is bothered by the very notion of Quistis.

"Hey," she says quietly for my attention, "Could you quit reading that for a while, I want to sleep now and I know if you keep reading that I'll stay awake," she says with a tone that in my opinion mocks me but at the same time… I don't know.

"Fine," I say more begrudgingly than I mean to and flip the book onto the table.

'The Limerick' surprisingly is actually a book from B-Gardens library; needless to say I was alarmed. The only thing remotely carnal in that library is the sex education text and graphic books, and even those don't conjure up the same imagery as The Limerick.

I do believe that I've found my own personal bible.

"G'night," she says happily and starts to her bed but she stops a moment.

She pivots in my direction and looks very unsure about something. Her index finger is on her lips and her eyes are down cast. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath and with apparent new found confidence strides to the table. She sits beside my feet and looks at me seriously. I try to match her look but I can't tell if I am, she is stone faced and her slivers of eyebrows are unwavering.

"I want you to tell me about what happened today," I raise my eyebrow and she meets that with the same look.

"What are you talking about?" she moves finally, only her eyes but at least she's moving, she seemed to be looking at my forehead or something.

"Your face didn't look normal, and it changed back when you smelled me," she pauses, and thankfully moves her face a bit more. "That's another thing, why were you smelling me?" she asks accusingly and I find my lungs paralyzed for a moment.

I don't know what she's talking about, but I need to humor her somehow.

"Get some rest, we'll talk about it tomorrow sometime," that seems to satisfy her.

Her face does not soften entirely but it's a good start. She sits up, and I don't miss the flash of her butt briefly peering out of the shorts she's changed in to. She isn't eyeing me anymore and I can only hope she didn't notice that. She stops in front of her door again and I feel like my lungs are about to collapse any moment now.

"G'night again Grave," she says with sweet, sweet smile, sweet enough to lick off.

She's plotting something, I know it.

**Black Blood Vessel**

… The following day…

"So what's happening today again?" Joselyn said from the bathroom, her mouth muffled by toothpaste and unnecessarily swirled bristles.

"The Garden Festival," Grave answered distractedly for the second time that morning, clearly uninterested in repeating the conversation.

"What's that, like a party or something?" she asked then spat in the sink.

Joselyn swiped a piece of toilet paper from the roll and proceeded to wipe off the toothpaste spit from the mirror. Grave didn't answer so she threw the waste away and strode in to the match box they called their living room.

"Hey," she said and tapped the top of his head.

He was sitting down at the table and reading again, he turned his head upside down to look at her. She didn't ask for a moment, and took in the rather innocent look of his position. He was like a kid lying upside down on the couch who ate cereal at the same time, watching the television and ignoring the wonders of physics.

"I _said_ 'is that like a party or something?'" she finished the repeat slowly like she was trying to teach an autistic how appropriately throw a Frisbee.

"Kinda, I don't know what they do exactly because I never go," he answered and instantly went back to reading, surprisingly undaunted by the blood that must have rushed back into his head.

"Why not?" she asked curiously and started rubbing his shoulders casually.

Most often she could do this to coax him into something. She would get him to cook for her breakfast even though he wanted to sleep instead, or to help her with homework even if he had already told her to do it herself.

If she was lucky she could have him say something he was reluctant to voice. But this did not seem to be one of those times, he was not relaxing nor was he shrugging off his jacket so she could work his shoulders more effectively. He was too distracted by his reading material this morning.

The massaging had failed her, which left her with only one other weapon.

"'Cause it's like a party or something, and I don't get invited to parties," he said simply and turned the page.

"But you are invited to this one, you're a student here and all of the students are invited," she said reasonably and continued to work his shoulders with decreasing effort, now giving up on her plans to coax him.

Grave didn't answer and she took that as her cue to drop it. She could always convince him to go the public celebration later. She was peering over his shoulder at the book not really caring what he was reading. He wasn't laughing so it was clearly not The Limerick. She continued to idly rub his shoulders but still he showed no appreciation.

Joselyn rounded the table and sat beside his feet. Being in the same position as they were last night she was reminded about the talk she wanted to have with him. She tapped his exposed toe playfully. He did not respond. She poked the arch of his foot which recoiled, but he continued reading, apparently ignoring her for hope she wouldn't take the next step.

Joselyn grinned like a Bomb, his hopes would be shattered like the suicidal flesh of the monster she was impersonating.

Joselyn tickled Graves foot which he recoiled completely and relocated under the table. She waited for a moment, like a snake with a shark's grin waiting to strike. She began to tickle his other foot which found a home under the table much sooner than its twin had.

Grave continued to read and ignore her but she saw a hint of a smile at the corners of those violet lips of his. She had him; it was time for the full fledged attack.

He would probably hate her for the rest of the day but it would be worth it.

Grave licked his finger and turned the page once again; the normally drowned out ticking of the clock ticked every half second being defective, Grave lowered the book in his lap a bit and Joselyn chose that moment to strike.

Without so much as a breath of warning Joselyn lunged into Grave palms first and had him on the floor before he could scan another word. The chair had toppled over his hip and he yelped but she refused to yield her attack. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and rolled them away from the table. At some point she stopped rolling and straddled him, she had her hands under his shirt in no amount of detectable time and was tickling him mercilessly.

He had no choice in the matter; he was at her non-existent mercy.

"Mwah ha hah ha!" she bellowed like a villain.

"Damn it Joselyn!" he bellowed with far less fervor than he like due to the exhausting laughter his lungs were being put through.

Joselyn was going to keep this a secret. As long as she was the only person who knew about Graves weakness then she could be privileged to enjoy it. Besides, if word got out that Balambs Demon was ticklish he'd never hear the end of it from his offenders, and Joselyn wanted to be the only person to torment him.

Grave flailed under her uselessly and laughed like a possessed hyena against his will, he flailed around and tried to roll out from under her at one point but only managed for her to straddle one hip so he rolled back to the original position. Unbeknownst to Joselyn he was perfectly capable of throwing her off but her position over him made him reluctant to remove her.

After what seemed like a half hour –and it was—Joselyn stopped torturing Grave and fell against him as though exhausted from cumming. They were breathing hard –Grave particularly, and it took all of his might to lift one arm and wipe the sweat from his brows.

After they caught their respective breaths Joselyn propped her elbows on either side of his head so she could look him in the eye. He looked up to her with hooded eyes –so as to avoid a proper pupil inspection—and to Joselyn looked faintly delirious. After a few more moments their labored breathing became synchronized, and moments after that it relaxed.

"Now that I have your attention…" she began between hard breaths but stopped once she noticed it was an altogether different kind of attention.

"My eyes are up here Grave," she said darkly and was further annoyed when he didn't look up.

"I know that," he said matter-of-factly and grinned lecherously, Joselyn gaped.

"You're horrible," she said and spared one arm to cover his eyes.

"And you're wearing a low collar shirt for once," he said approvingly, his horny grin never wavering, Joselyns's eyes went wide.

"You're _really_ horrible!" she said and struck him on the nose before covering his eyes up again. "It must be that Limerick book, you're normally not this perverted," she said the last part absently, sounding annoyed yet playful.

Before he could say anything more she brought up her originally intended subject.

"I want to have that talk now," she said seriously, and worried a bit when those lips finally fell.

He didn't say anything for a long time; he only increased his breathing perhaps to feel the sensation of their torsos more effectively. He spoke finally when Joselyn decided to elaborate.

"What talk?" he asked knowing full well what she meant.

"You know," she said quietly, holding back her accusatory tone. "There was something wrong with your face during the exam, and after you took a whiff of my neck you changed back." Grave said nothing, "I want to know more about you Grave, don't keep things like this from me." She asked with the same tone, deliberately quelling the longing in her voice.

Still Grave was silent, his voice anyway. He continued to breathe heavily from the tickling not long ago. Perhaps he was relishing the remnant of the pleasant activity to distract himself from the bothersome talk it had segued into.

It was bothersome, not uncomfortable, but he was not yet comfortable with it. So he predictably avoided it.

Obviously reluctant Grave slid out from under Joselyn with his eyes closed and immediately he regretted it. He was cold now and he felt a distinct void over his skin where her body had been.

Grave allowed his eyes to open just enough to look at her. She hadn't moved away so now she was lying on the floor on her belly with her arms under her chin. After two weeks of rooming together Grave knew when something was wrong with her. She would always keep her troubles from him and he granted her the same courtesy. But until then there had not been a time when she looked so defeated, so much so she wasn't trying to hide it.

Yet another pang of guilt clenched in his stomach, this one was just behind his belly button. It was sometimes painful but always fascinating the affects Joselyn had on him, and as human as he was –and therefore disliking pain—the painful affects were always the most fascinating.

It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about it with her; it was just that he didn't know the answer. He didn't know why the smell of blood did that to him. He didn't know why the smell on her neck made it stop. He did however know a few details but knowing Joselyn what little information he had would not satisfy her. He would have to ask Quistis or the good doctor Heartilly –or Leonhart, he wasn't sure exactly what her last name was—to get the details.

It was fuzzy those details about his condition, but it was clear to him that it was genetic. Even if there were magical properties at work as well it had to be fundamentally genetic.

Minutes had passed during his reverie and neither had budged from their positions. Grave wasn't sure how to say it, so he took the blunt, direct path and hoped for the best.

"I don't know exactly." She perked her head to look at his face when he said that, and already her mood had visibly lightened.

"I'll find out soon, and if you really want to know then I'll tell you everything," he said quietly but loud enough for her to make it out.

She sat up and upon exterior inspection she did not look pleased. But she didn't look depressed anymore. She was tepid emotionally from the look of things. The air about her had shifted from angst ridden teenager to recovered damage.

She shifted then moved a bit clumsily on her fists and knees to him. He didn't move, he never moved when she touched him or even made a move to touch him, for irrational concern that she wouldn't do it if he shifted even a little bit.

Three strides after those thoughts she was in front of him –clearly unconcerned about his interest in her cleavage—and gave him a firm kiss on his forehead. She kneeled in front him them, mirroring his position and smiled on the inside with the knowledge that he was stunned for speech.

"Alright," she said simply and smirked knowingly for him.

She chose not to speak for a few more moments and just admired her handiwork, that being the furious blush on his fair, fair skin. She purposefully fell over sideways and retrieved the book he'd been reading. She scanned the cover for a title and frowned when all she saw was an illustration of three figures, they were obviously GF's, and she only recognized one.

"It's about murals in the Shumi Village," he said clarifying her obvious curiosity.

The face Joselyn made when she was curious was humorously like the face she made when frustrated he noted.

"I'm reading it mostly for the parts about Salamander," he admitted, trying to lighten the mood.

Joselyn would let him do it. Although the tension between them could be most pleasant in its own morbid way, she agreed silently that a completely change of subject was a good idea.

"Do you now if Maduin is-"

"Page 57." He said with a friendly smile, he knew what she was going to ask before she even picked up the book.

Joselyn ignored the fact the Grave just interrupted her and eagerly flipped the page Grave had advised. Once she found the piece about Maduin she sat up and spoke random segments of the piece aloud.

"_Maduin is depicted most often as a passive creature, when not in battle he is seen wrapped in blue cloth and holding a bowl of milk... the most notable detail about Maduins murals is that he is never alone, most often with a human woman who is theorized to be his wife, and nearly as often with another Guardian Force called Terra..._" she read happily sounding interested until she thought of something and she shot a worried look to Grave.

_**EG**_

"I'm sorry; I made you lose your place." I crack a grin and laugh quietly, for a moment I thought she was concerned about something serious.

"I was on Page 109," I said assuredly and she relaxes again.

Instead of giving the book back to me Joselyn scoots her way next to me on the floor and sets the book down in front of us. The hardcover hits the carpet resulting in a quiet thump and the pages annoyingly bounce like little springs for a few seconds and threaten to cost us my –our—place again. We each place a hand on one page. I try at first to read quietly but Joselyn insists on continuing to read aloud, her pretty voice –amazingly undamaged by cigarette smoke—is most distracting and after a few minutes of futility I give up and allow her to read to me.

"-_the texts say that Salamander was the mischievous one of the group. He was the strategist of always half-baked, but often successful schemes. He was also a thief in the oldest of records, and was a tactful but foolish creature until a mural depicting his first meeting with the Guardian Force Lich who halted a pilfering and took him prisoner. Much like other Guardian Forces such as Maduin and his family, the trio is rarely seen apart after their initial encounters with one another_." She finishes with satisfied finality that I would see as false interest if I didn't know her so well.

"Who was the other one again?" I blenched and must look somehow cute to her because she smiles and makes a face like there's something in her stomach.

She turns the page back and scans the paragraph she had started with.

"Terrato, he's an earth elemental Wyrm," she informed me and as soon as the words leave that mouth she regards me again as if to ask if I have any other questions –which I don't because I plan on finishing the book myself later.

This is a ridiculous gesture since I can just read the book myself whenever I want to, but Joselyn seems inclined to help me even if it is ridiculous to me. It is my conviction that this girl just likes to be in charge, she had taken to leadership yesterday quickly enough.

Perhaps there is something bigger she has in mind, some enormous vex of mine she might have perceived in our time together. Because this is nothing, but starting small seems to be her way of doing things. Challenging things that is, helping me is in fact a fish too big to _fry_**; **one would likely need to bring an entire pool to a high roiling boil to cook such a big fucker.

It alarms me sometimes how nice she is to me. I watch her sometimes, she never sees me when I do it -in fact it borders on stalking most likely but I don't let that bother me—I watch her when she's with other students, they way she interacts with them, they way she learns and helps out the Garden Festival build the stage for the upcoming band event that she is somehow uninformed of. She acts normal with everyone and is very nice to most people much the same way Cody is.

Cody is a great friend and I secretly consider him a blessing, but Cody has other friends to tend to and therefore not all of his time can be spent with me –even less now than before since the roommate exchange. Quistis has been a big help to me from the beginning and I did the same for her in return, but that was all we are to each other even though our teacher student relationship is closer than most others.

But Joselyn has all the time in the world for me –we of course had classes apart when we were still cadets and will no doubt have missions apart from each other in the future—she treats me like a person like Cody and Quistis do, but more so. They treat me like a person who needs a friend, and a person who needs to learn and find a place in society. Joselyn treats me like a person who needs to laugh, be touched –and apparently tickled on occasion, but only on occasion, this is not the sort of thing that should ever get out of hand—she does more than make me feel like a person, she makes me… happy.

Apparently my first impression wasn't a lasting one.

To answer her unspoken question I take the book and stand up. I set the book back down on the table. I don't turn around but I can imagine what her expression is like because she hasn't stood up yet. I take a deep breath and swear mentally after I realize that she heard that and turn around. She looks only mildly disappointed, and even that disappears after I help her up.

Before I have the chance to look into her only exposed eye I say something that I know will throw her into a rare girlish fit.

"Black Blood Vessel is playing at the Garden Festival." I say as quickly as my tongue will move and mentally prepare myself yet again, but for something far louder.

At first she doesn't make a sound, the defective clock ticks but to me it sounds like it is quieting, like a squawking bird flying from an oncoming tornado.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !"

I want to hold my ears but she has a death grip on each of my arms. Joselyn is hopping up and down like a wobbling spring. Although my arms hurt a little bit now it's a small price to pay to see this spectacular show. There is literally nothing else on this planet that could make Joselyn behave so air headed and preppy, which is awfully ironic since Black Blood Vessel fans are typically anything but.

She's flailing her braids from side to side now and seems completely out of tune with reality, I take this opportunity and pull my arms out of her grips. She begins to hop around in circles and begins to start screaming a different vowel.

Personally I feel nothing for our neighbors, we'll be moving out in two days anyway.

After her screaming gets too annoying –and before I hear footsteps in the corridor outside, although I can't imagine how I'd hear anything over this woman—I stride to the other side of the room and clamp one hand over her mouth. She freezes, and then she blushes very, very noticeably.

"I get it, you like them," I say as deadpan as I can manage, it's a pity I can't keep my smile just as neutral.

She shoots me a friendly glare and removes my hand from her mouth; instead she holds it for possible fear of my muting her again.

"Right, well…" She pauses and looks rather embarrassed, I can tell that she's trying to recover her dignity but I think that's long gone for the time being. "So that's what's happening."

"It is," I say leading her to continue, I am enjoying this far too much.

"So if you know what's happening why aren't you going? Don't you like them?" that question takes me by surprise and I do my best not to show it.

"I suppose I do, why does that matter?" I see from the way her facial expression changes that I just asked one of the stupider questions I could have asked.

"They're like the best band in the world! Of course it matters!"

I try not to laugh, she'll see it as more disrespect to the band than her, and she never considers anything I say to her disrespectful, and if she does she hides it well. She seems to just brush my sarcasm off like dust on her jacket the moment it collects there.

"I don't listen to them much," I shrug, "I don't see anything wrong with missing the show," her eyes prove they can widen further and I'm almost surprised.

"But a live concert is so much better than listening on a CD player!" she says more passionately than I think she should. "Just come to the show alright? Do it for me," she says with low brows and an even lower smile.

Now she's just playing dirty. Joselyn knows that I'll do it if she says that, she's being so unfair. Those words actually hold some power over me now.

It's because she's never said them to me.

I think she was saving them, like special ammunition for a particularly hard shelled target.

'Do it for me,' she says.

"Fine," she brightens and releases my hand which I allow to swing by its socket, "I'll listen to three songs but then I leave," her face instantly falls back to its original shape.

"Come on," she says with not a drop of diplomacy. "Three songs? THREE? The show starts at like," she looked at the clock like it could be helpful. "Seven, it's going to be a long show so they're bound to play way more than three songs," she shifts between outraged to reasonable so quickly I get distracted by it and fail to answer her.

She waves a hand in front of me to return me from reverie. After I'm snapped back to her attention I examine the look of hope she's showing me. I know it's fake, we're only talking about an Industrial concert here.

Aren't we?

_**EG**_

Seven hours later Grave and Joselyn were inside –near the exit—of the SeeD grand ballroom which had been turned into a makeshift concert hall. Every single cadet as well as certain SeeDs, bodyguards and even a few Instructors were present. In one corner there was a small bar which had presumably materialized overnight since nobody recognized it.

The crowd was enormous. In fact it wasn't meant to hold this amount of people, even for a SeeD inauguration that would be held the following day. It could not be visitors because such people were no longer permitted because of the conflict between B-Garden and the Galbadian army. It could only be something like, perhaps, people showing up who normally wouldn't at other Garden events. SeeD inaugurations were always big but left much more room than this. That implied that most people didn't show up, probably cadets who failed the exam, or cadets in mourning, those were the most likely reasons.

Most of the cadets displayed their fandom with hair dye and make up and… other accessories. 'Nobody looks normal' was the way Grave might have put it, but regardless of if it was Grave speaking or another person other than the lead vocalist, she wouldn't hear them. Joselyn was completely blind to all but the stage.

Because she was surrounded by people who weren't Grave, Joselyn was doing a much better job of relaxing her excitement than she had earlier in the day. She was still rather embarrassed about it and was sure that Grave would make sure she wouldn't forget about it. It was alright, Joselyn didn't really mind it when Grave tormented her like that. In fact it was a lot like they way she tickled him. Joselyn was not physically ticklish –and Grave was _just a tad_ disappointed when he discovered that—but Grave had other methods of tormenting her pleasantly, and his method was in his speech.

Next to Joselyn Grave looked like he was suspicious, or wary of something. She noticed this miraculously during one of her moments of looking away from the stage. He was frowning so much she saw wrinkles on his face; his hands had been plunged inside his jeans pockets and seemed to want to dig deeper, and to top it all off he was shifty eyed like some escaped convict in a public venue. Something was obviously vexing him.

Joselyn shrugged and blinked, surely the music would put him in a better mood, after he started listening he'd definitely want to listen to more than three songs she thought.

She allowed herself to be a bit giddy when the lights on the walls and the ceiling dimmed and the lights on the stage lit open shining shafts of deep purple and bright red. They did not move but some crossed together and created another color darker than you could imagine light could be.

The Drummer was the one to step on stage first. The burst of applause that would not technically die down until the end of the night came forth to the stage and he basked in it, but briefly, he knew who the applause was really for. Next came the Bassist who behaved just as the drummer had before finding his instrument and slinging it over his shoulder.

The entries continued in that fashion with the Pianist and the Guitarist until the Singer stalked on to the stage. That was when the crowd was particularly loud, breasts threatened to spill from shirts and jackets for the band members, and judging by the wails certain lungs were inclined to do the same.

The Singer was shorter than the other members of the group, unlike the others who were scantily clad in leather and spikes he was draped in a long trench coat that swept the floor behind him like a single layered wedding gown, and his flat black hair was brushed obviously over the right side of his face. It did not cover him attractively like Joselyns hair did for her, but was longer and therefore covered him a great deal more.

He stopped at the mic stand which he clutched and then he stopped differently. The applause died down as the audience took the bands signal to quiet down so they could play. Predictably one audience member whistled daringly and was no doubt met by harsh stares by his immediate bystanders for prolonging the bands silence further.

After the band decided that things were adequately quiet the singer nodded to the guitarist who began picking softly at the thinner strings of his instrument. The sound was hypnotic to most audience members and for whatever reason they hadn't considered, they all imagined a circle when they heard this intro, a dark purple circle with an imperfect smudge and a few dots of purple near it like a coffee stain shaped bruise.

The other instruments began to play their parts softly, just enough to be noticed but not enough to be discerned from the noise the guitar was making. That was when he spoke.

"_Why does the rain freeze me, when I'm already cold?_

_Why does my ego rise, away, when I feel bold?_

_Who is the prick who made me, what no one wants to see?_

_Why do people clutch their hearts and back away from me_?"

Only after he sang the first line did the audience begin to sing along. They began timidly, being mildly concerned about interruption after being hushed, but the last line always had their listeners, so by the time he spoke it the audience was whispering along with complete confidence and stamina.

It was at this point the other instruments sang to life and the energy in the concert hall ascended all at once and took the audiences spirits with it.

"_Why won't you show yourself right now and tell me,_" and the audience held their each respective breaths.

"_Why I'm a monster!"_ he screamed and he screamed with his audience.

The chorus was repeated three times in three different but similar fashions and the moment the chorus ended the screams of the audience died down.

"_Why do they hate me and drag me in dirt?_

_Do-on't they know-ow that ha-atred hurts?_

_Why do they stone me and innocent doves?_

_Why wont girls fuck me and teach me to love?"_ not he, not the audience missed a beat, not when he substituted syllables for additional vocal beats, and not when one particularly inebriated student puked obnoxiously close to the guitarists feet.

Unexpectedly, they skipped the second pre chorus, not many people missed that beat either.

Although Grave did, but he wasn't singing, Grave hated to sing.

"_Why am I a monster!?"_ he screamed, but now he screamed louder, his signature voice so that no audience member could copy him or even touch the note.

The time for instrumentals came at once after the second chorus and the Singer looked ready to complete the song at any moment. Although there was only one moment that was fitting, that meant he needed to wait.

The instrumentalists seemed to be improvising at first but a regular listener of their music would have every note memorized and know that every moment was deliberate. Although Black Blood Vessel was new the main stream music scene they were already famous for the quality of their live shows –they lacked in quantity however and that was perhaps the only thing about them their fans weren't fond of.

It was not a solo, it was instead a collection of sounds from each instrument that built up and built up and developed enough suspense for the listeners to demand an ending grander than the previous choruses.

And with all the loyalty of a milk man they delivered. The final chorus was so loud that the speakers nearly exploded and that of course had the more elderly humans in the room nearly dropping their drinks.

The guitarists went to their respective racks of guitars –or arsenal might have been a better way to put it- and scanned them for more appropriate devices. The audience did not know it but the reason they were doing that was for instruments that were tuned differently.

Grave did not watch the stage. Grave knew the appearances of the band members well enough and he lacked the 'Horny Teenage Girl' interest that Joselyn was obviously runny with to lock his eyes on to the lead singer. He nervously cast his eyes around the room to the other audience members and it made him want to break something. The color of their hair dye and make up, the contacts they wore so proudly like gelatinous religious trinkets.

But mostly he looked at Joselyn, just like he always did. She, like most other audience members was swaying with the music. Although the poor excuse for a mosh pit might have tickled her interest they were far too far away from the stage to participate –unless if they used a high level destructive spell or nine to create a path but that was strictly forbidden in so many ways.

It was alarming and captivating how he could so easily make out her eye. Firstly because it was so dark in the room, but he could think of other reasons why it seemed so unnatural. Secondly a person's eyes –even Joselyn's—were not things that stood out like candle light in a black room the way novelists might want a person to think, eyes blended in with the rest of the body and if the body was uninteresting then the eyes would be too –though that was not to say that Joselyns body was uninteresting. Thirdly real people do not have anime faces, and therefore eyes do not attract and enormous amount of attention.

But Joselyns left eye –which had always distinctly reminded him of limeade—was attracting his attention as much as her butt and her breasts at that moment –and that of course, was saying something—it was like a glow sticks glow but without the glow, he wasn't sure how he could say it, but the color stood out in the darkness however dim it was.

It wasn't until he heard the crashing of the cymbals swirling with the cavernous vibrations of the bass when he realized that Joselyns distracting body parts had distracted him completely from the second song. He recognized the ending and then knew that it was only an instrumental –odd that the singer was allowing such a thing so early in the show- and he only shook his head to it in disregard. Grave had never been impressed by that instrumental anyway.

Joselyn gasped which made Grave snap his head up and wince when his neck muscles were pulled. He put his hand on the back of his neck and announced his pain with an unintentionally uproarious expletive which was only drowned out by the sounds of the crowd's hands and throats and lips.

Grave approached her –which took all but two steps—and tapped her shoulder. She jerked to one side and looked as alarmed to see him as she was to see what startled her. Grave knew exactly what it was, but he chose to play dumb and ask her, she would need to morbidly indulge her fright at least a little bit; it was her right as an adolescent.

He held her soft chin between thumb and forefinger and drew her face to his; she obediently moved her head knowing what he was doing and allowed him to turn her head to speak in to her ear.

"What is it?" he asked –yell/asked actually—and kept the oblivious look on his face sturdy when she looked at him like his tongue had just fallen out of his mouth and directly in to a bucket of Moomba's who were unhealthily enthusiastic about tennis.

"Part of his face is missing that's what it is!" she yelled and he almost didn't make it out.

He couldn't help but crack his grin; the tone she had used was so amusing with its panic since Grave would have thought that she would know about the singer's facial condition considering how much she liked the band.

Although he knew what she was talking about Grave looked to the singer with her and took in the display. The singer had thrown the hair that had been over his face off of it and behind his head in a haphazard fashion. The area where his left eye –and eyebrow—and a small portion of his nose belonged was consumed by the boy's forehead. Very few of the fans were surprised, but Joselyn was not alone, other yelps most of which came from the front of the stage could be heard before the third song was played.

The band didn't allow the shocked individuals in the audience to recuperate from seeing his face for the first time before they began the third song. The band gave the silent treatment once more, and once the audience had quieted as they wanted the singer spoke. His speaking voice struck something in Joselyn; there was something comfortably familiar about it.

"This song is very important to me, we usually only play it until the end of the end of our shows but I really want to play it for you now," he said no more, and an infamous piano melody reverberated in the room.

"Oh this is my favorite one." Joselyn said eagerly and hopped in her toes shortly.

Grave looked deceptively placid, she would not have known anything was wrong even if she were looking at him. In fact she almost didn't notice him when he pivoted on one heel and rushed as quickly as his walk would take him out of the hall.

Joselyn knitted her brows and followed him out, he only made it to the entrance to the quad –slash exit to the ball room now concert hall—before she caught up with him and stopped him with a touch on his shoulder. She had expected it to take more effort than that and bumped in to him softly. He only teetered a little, he was like an apathetic punch me clown.

"Why'd you leave?" she asked innocently sounding more like a little girl than any adolescent should.

Grave spun around gracefully and quickly, the motion was enough to remove Joselyns hand from his shoulder but not enough to keep it from landing on the other, he didn't notice. He stepped back from her for that obvious reason and struck her with a look on his face that was not the tiniest bit friendly.

"Joselyn when you looked at the audience what did you see?" he asked the way a commanding officer might order something, like spitting nails and lightning directly in to a cadets waiting eyes.

Joselyn looked less struck by his words than by his tone, actually the words almost bypassed her as she tended to disregard things she could not register intelligently.

"What are you asking me?" she asked sounding confused and equally hurt and did not bother to hide it.

Grave rolled his eyes and growled rudely. Joselyn restrained herself from scolding him not only because Grave was her friend, but because Grave was scolding _her_ from the sound of things. To an observer of the conflict who might also be an observer of daytime TV this would look exactly like 'Timid Bruised Housewife Syndrome' but Joselyn knew Grave only got this way when someone had genuinely earned it, and if she had earned his scorn then she was prepared and pleased to be burned by his words.

"Did you see their make up? Their hair, their eyes, were you paying attention to them at all?" he asked sharply and accusingly, yet somehow he sounded like he didn't care what her answer was.

Joselyn quirked an eyebrow and thought for a moment, then blushed mildly when she realized she had only looked at the band. Grave pushed at her patience by rolling his eyes once more and simply pointed to a pair of daring cadets who hadn't passed the day before, now smoking cigarettes and talking idly about how stuffy the concert hall was.

Joselyn made her eyes go wide when she investigated them. She knew now, she knew what it was before she even walked in but she didn't understand until now the implications of the audiences appearance.

The devoted Black Blood Vessel fans dressed up for the concerts. They clad themselves in black like Grave, they put on make up for white faces like Graves, they dyed their hair so it would be black like Graves, and they wore special contacts to give them milky blue eyes… just like Grave.

But just for one night. She knew the following day these same people would mock him and fear him for his appearance again. Hypocrites. This was the reason Grave didn't want to go, he didn't want to see his criticizers impersonating him and singing along to popular music like it was nothing. Joselyn spun back around when she heard Graves retreating foot clicks. She power walked to catch up with him and nearly bumped into him again when he turned to face her once more. Grave opened his mouth again but before he could continue his angry interrogation she held one index finger to his lips which had a surprisingly sudden affect on him.

"I'm sorry," she began, and took the look in his hooded eyes for 'go on'.

"I wasn't thinking about what their audience does and I'm a bitch for forgetting about it." At that Grave wedged his index finger between her finger and his mouth signaling his turn to speak.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," he said and they let their hands drop.

"I just wanted to do something publicly with you, you're my friend damn it!" she said smiling that smile and knocked his chin softly with her knuckles.

He surprised her yet again by softening already. Grave smiled back and tried to brush his fingers against her knuckles when her hand swung back to her side. Joselyn tried hard to keep her smile on her face. It was hard for her to believe Grave was softening so soon after being so angry; she had never seen him that disappointed with her before. She was not about to push her luck though, that was for sure. Graves mood swings could be furious and Joselyn knew that first hand, probably better than even Cody did.

"I'm not going back in there," he said keeping in mind that she might just want to get him back to the concert with her.

"That's alright," she said quietly.

Neither of their smiles wavered, neither did the quiet arguments and reverie they were sharing behind them. Joselyns grins always told Grave 'this isn't over' and Grave's grins always told her 'you're right.' They went back to their dorm and Joselyn lead the way, feeling the tiniest obligation to take charge after unknowingly betraying her friend, it was one of those little courtesies that were simply rude to ignore.

Back around the hallway to the concert hall Cody watched his friends go back to their room. Grinning like a madman in a candy store who had just found the marshmallows filled with blueberry jelly.

His tipsy date, a girl smothered with more white make up than was necessary and a bush of unnaturally frizzy hair took slow calculated steps to Cody, and was pleased when he gladly supported her with an arm around her waist, she swatted his hand when he tried to cop a feel but did nothing more, neither did he.

"Isn't she a dyke?" she asked bluntly, neither of their stares wavered but Cody's eyes hardened just a bit, and morbidly his smile remained.

"No, what makes you think that?"

"That's what my friends were saying about her," she shrugged indifferently and took another sip of pilfered syrup liquor.

"Well your friends are wrong," he said honestly and decided to leave the subject at that.

"Whatever," she shrugged again and forgot all about his friends in a moment, and then she finished her drink "C'mere," she said with a tipsy smile and licked his jaw line, she left a trail of light pink drink dye on his face.

Cody kissed the girl quickly and pulled her back in to the concert hall where the darkness and noise could hide their adolescent playtime from the authority figures.

**Flash**

…the next day after that…

Rinoa was asleep. Curled up on the still unmade bed she was still dressed in her doctor's coat and high heels. Her hair was still tied back and the small pair of glasses she had prescribed for herself was positioned awkwardly between the pillow and her nose.

He was asked very often –more by Irvine than anyone else—if she slept like an angel, due to the hype about her wings and generous nature.

Squall had decided long ago that, no, she did not. Rinoa slept like a human, because that was what she was. He knew that if she heard him say something to that effect she would become angry with him. Squall was not going to deny that Rinoa had a self possessed side, and that she liked the idea of being called an angel. And although Squall indulged her and addressed her as such when appropriate, he was not a person who ignored the truth.

Rinoa was just a human, albeit a very special human but a mere human nonetheless.

Squall approached the bedside she was sleeping on –his side of course, Squall didn't understand the concept of designating sides for the bed if you were only going to share the whole thing anyway, or rather if your partner would hog the whole thing—and kneeled in front of her. He had not turned the lights on so her face was a light gray color rather than the white/beige pallet seen in the light.

Now was the time he would normally undress her of her coat and glasses and other such things and pull the covers over her shoulders. But that would lead to pillow talk and he did not want to wake her.

He stripped out of his work clothes and continued walking in the silent fashion to the 'fabled' dresser drawer. He smiled at the thought of the name Rinoa had given it. He always displayed an opinion of stupidity for that name which wasn't feigned entirely. She only called it that because he never wore his old clothes anymore, but with his new plan to rearrange occupations times would change again soon.

The smell of feathers and leather came apart from the drawer so strongly that for a brief moment Squall thought it might wake Rinoa if it reached her. He carefully lifted each article of leather from the drawer like pulling books from a box and set each one on the floor at his feet.

The leather squeaked offensively when he pulled the pants on and once again he froze in place as if that could will Rinoa to remain sleeping. She snored softly –and somehow attractively—and his muscles softened back in to place at the sound.

After he buckled his allegedly redundant set of belts he shrugged on a T-shirt and his jacket without worry. He chuckled quietly and watched Rinoa as he did it, half because he was laughing at her and half because he was still worried he'd wake her.

More than once Rinoa had approached Squall about his extra belts, and he could barely contain his mirth every time she tried. He knew that the others made her do it because she was closer to him than they were. He knew that they had huddled together in the cafeteria when he'd walk away for whatever reason so they could plan and discuss strategies to approach him with the subject. Whenever they asked him it was akin to an interrogation. Each of them stared at him in waiting like he might give them the answer and if they weren't paying attention they'd never know.

The truth was his leather pants didn't have pockets and sometimes he needed a place to put his hands.

But they would never know.

Squall sneaked around the bed and lay on Rinoas side. It was only the afternoon but if Rinoa could sleep the midday away than he certainly could do it with her. He lay on top of the wrinkled sheets with his lips to her pony tail and let the scent of peony shampoo put him to sleep.

_**Squall was nearly jolted back to wakefulness when the old truck hit another bump on the rocky Centran plains it was driving on. Although the vehicle did have it's own kind of charm with its classic shape and its wooden gate in the back, and its dial radio it was not the object of attention.**_

_**Next to Squall in the back seat was little Quisty, crying her skin into a rash-like redness that threatened to become redder but could never match the shade of her mothers blood on her little dress. Not red enough to match the embers from cigarette burns in her hair.**_

_**In the front passenger seat was little Seifer –also known as Seify but he always put up arguments when ever that variation of his name was uttered and this was hardly the time—shedding minimal tears as per usual. He was fiddling with his thumbs and his fingers but mostly his fingers and tried as hard as he could to ignore Quistys crying, and his fathers drunken ranting, and trying even harder to not complain since his only reward for this was an awkwardness he wouldn't be able to understand even as an adult.**_

_**The young blond ones didn't want to do this, they wanted to fight with sticks like Seifer always wanted to do, so he could beat her more by making up rules to his advantage as they played than actually hitting her with the branch. Then Quisty would outsmart him with his own rules until he deemed the activity stupid once again and stomp off to the pond where Quisty would follow him.**_

_**They wanted to play the board games like chess like Quisty always wanted to so that Seifer could –bless his little corrupt heart—try to understand the rules and fail in the field of outsmarting Quisty. Then, predictable as he was he would knock the whatever pieces off of whatever board they were playing with and stomp away, just like he always did.**_

_**They wanted things to be familiar like their other visits with each other, but today was not familiar at all.**_

_**Seifer had been suspicious the moment he woke up that morning. He had opened his little green eyes to see his gargantuan of a father staring back at him, his lips parted slightly and his eyes a daze with nothingness and the burning water he stored under the sink where he thought Seifer would never look for it.**_

_**Their breakfast had been consumed in silence where talk of the cute blonds in their respective lives was normally held. All the while his father was staring at him and all the while Seifer held the stare like a person might hold a spinning basketball on their finger. He had to think of it as a challenge because it was on going but somehow he knew it wasn't one, because there was no glint or edge in his father's eyes, only darkness and dullness. He only saw disappointment, and in turn he was disappointed.**_

_**Seifer didn't even need to ask to be brought to Quistys house that morning, his father had simply ushered him in to their truck and brought him to the Trepes house.**_

_**Quisty had been surprised to see Seifer and for whatever reason Seifer had looked equally surprised to be there. They did little more than look at each other. Examining not for the first time one another's appearance and feeling somehow pleased by doing only that, and each feeling to embarrassed about it to tell each other about it. It was one of the few things Quisty didn't care to learn or examine too much.**_

_**At some point Seifer had the bad timing to sit down just as the commotion had started. Sounds that sounded nothing like their each single parents but could only come from them tore the halls and rooms of the small house. The children were only startled at first, and were not yet scared to huddle together, but they would soon. Even as children they felt like they should prove themselves even if it was to each other, but all humans have their limit no matter how stubborn or strong… or denying.**_

_**After a painfully long half hour Seifers father found the children clutching each other under Quistys small bed. He dragged them out with bloody and burned hands and pulled them kicking and screaming in to his truck.**_

_**Now they were in the middle of no where, some place in Centra that nobody ever visited, some place that probably didn't inhabit anybody.**_

_**There was nobody to save them from their caretaker.**_

_**Seifers father screamed obscenities about Quistys mother and looked too distracted by his insanity to notice his eyes were about to pop out of his sockets. He was an enraged dragon with one claw on the steering wheel and the other fumbling a cigarette, his screams were his fire and the fumes of vodka were his smoke.**_

_**Sometimes Seifer would wonder if his last name meant terrifying or something to that effect, because he saw incredible terror in his father more now than ever. Seifer knew even as a child that he could be scary, Quisty had made a face a few times to show him as much, and he believed that he could use and maybe even make it his second friend next to Quisty. But if this was what it meant to be scary he wanted no part of it, he didn't want to scare Quisty, he didn't want to scare himself, 'cause only boys did that and Seifer didn't want to be a boy anymore.**_

_**Seifer had always wanted to save people and boys couldn't save people, at least not their fathers.**_

_**The children couldn't see it but Seifers father certainly could and Spectral Squall was no different though the fathers head got in the way of his view. There was a familiar house in view but that was not what the elder Almasy was aiming for. The truck was closing in on a cliff, and through the fathers hateful sneer Squall could feel a sense of happiness. It was clearly selfish pleasure; his boy was not on his mind.**_

_**In that moment Seifer sucked in his sniffles and stopped crying. In his tiny child's brain he formed a plan, and for the first and possibly the last time Seifer did something heroic.**_

_**Seifer crawled over his seat and luckily went unnoticed by his father due to the screaming and the possibly blinding fumes of liquor he had been breathing in his own face all morning. Seifer unbuckled Quistys safety belt for her. He had to use all of the withering strength in his little arms to open up the door but he ignored it with his newfound hatred for family.**_

_**After a short sniveling discussion with Quisty he convinced her to pick herself up with equally brittle stamina and together they jumped out of the truck. Squall chose to join them for sake of a vantage point he was more interested in and noted that Quisty had passed out upon landing but Seifer had stayed awake, and he watched with dark edgeless eyes as his father was carried from the ground and in to the salt and water below.**_

_**It took Cid and Edea Kramer no more than ten minutes to notice the commotion outside of their out of the way orphanage and pick up the blond children. The children said nothing but snuggled gratefully against the adults who they didn't know but nonetheless had not betrayed them.**_

_**They would be fed orange juice and oatmeal cookies. And from then on Quisty would be more distant with Seifer. She would always see a portion of the man who had killed her mother in his face. And Seifer would act accordingly.**_

_**EG**_

Quistis didn't think she looked very attractive in her dress. It was a somewhat revealing red number that had been picked out for her by the self proclaimed 'Fashion Trio of Justice' otherwise known as Netta, Rinoa and Selphie. It only left her arms and her upper back to the elements, even her neck was hugged snugly by the thick fabric. Needless to say they were disappointed that they could only get her to try on one from the plethora of garments they had selected, but she refused to feel sorry for them, Quistis was not a woman to waste time on things she knew she wouldn't like. And Quistis would not even need to glance at a halter top or a mini skirt to know it was a waste of her time.

She had already handed out her congratulations like the novelty gifts they were and now stood alone next to the dance floor. Every year since her admittance to B-Garden Quistis could not recall one graduation ceremony –not even her own—where she had danced with someone. It had not occurred to her to ask someone on her own so she had always waited and waited and waited for nothing. Of course she had been asked by many a Trepie and perhaps it was shallow of her to always turn them down. But it was silly to dance with someone who you didn't want to dance with.

Quistis sipped her still full glass of champagne like she wanted to seem like she had not drunk from it at all. The new graduate standing next to her went unnoticed and so did her inviting smile and posture. The girl for some reason didn't dare to speak and eventually gave up and left Quistis to her seemingly untouched glass of champagne.

For the first time that night Quistis took notice of Squall and Rinoa. The graduations for the SeeDs were almost like their six month anniversaries in a way. They were the only two times of the year she could convince him to dance with her –or at all. It was a pity indeed Quistis thought, Squall was a skilled dancer but he ignored his ability with the same indifference a homosexual might ignore the loins of the other gender.

She also noticed that he was wearing his old leather number again but she gave it little more thought than that.

Wasted skills were such a waste… that word was coming to her quite a lot that night. She was a waste, and she was going to be even more of one if she had any more champagne. The bubbles blinked at her in response and sent to message that even a drunk wouldn't decipher. She shrugged defiantly and took a long swig of the drink and set the glass on the floor beside one of the potted plants.

Quistis decided that her love life was absurdly difficult. Why was it she was only attracted to men who were moody and/or wore masks? And why was it she only attracted fan boys and lesbians… and moody men who wore masks?

Quistis rounded the dance floor with her equilibrium a surprisingly stable frame. Her soft shoes made no sound on the rim of the dance floor and perhaps would have been drowned out by the music anyway had she worn the high heels her friends had insisted she wore.

She bypassed every occupant in the room and held up her pace only when she neared the exit. Where Savior stood statuesque by the entrance of the ball room like the guardian he was. He wasn't actually guarding the ball room, nobody was. He was only being an onlooker of the festivities, just a wallflower, just like she was.

Despite her silence he noticed her just as she rounded the corner to the entrance. He almost spoke to her but she beat him to it. She stood in front of him and seemed unaware of the people and activities behind her, and all of the adolescents of all shapes and sizes interested in dancing with her. She held her right hand extended before him and said a tad tipsily.

"May I have this dance?" She almost laughed saying it, ever the feminist she was she would rather have the man ask her to dance but she knew that was not going to happen, and that left her the one option.

Savior looked as puzzled as one mask bearer could and for a moment he did nothing. After contemplating her offer for a little bit, and after Quistis had shifted between three different aggravated facial expressions he answered.

"Not here," he said simply, and then he left.

Quistis followed him swiftly and didn't even look back to the ball room as the main event of the night –the actual graduation of the new SeeDs followed by a long winded speech by Squall—began. Normally she'd be in the ball room now, to congratulate the new SeeDs, Grave in particular. She knew how much he wanted to be a SeeD and she was truly happy for him but he didn't matter right now, there was something about dancing alone with Savior that seemed more important than that.

He had been a good student, but not _that_good of a student.

Savior stopped on the bridge outside of the Quad and Quistis copied him. She thought for a moment that he was not going to do anything and she made a move to turn him but he spun around then. Instead of peering down to her he looked and his hands, he slipped off one glove and then the other, and put each glove in his pocket. Quistis breath hitched in her throat and Savior noticed, but he did nothing to let her know that.

She took his hands into her own with strong grips and avarice. She had never seen his skin before much less touch it. And now she was free to rub their palms together and feel the warmth of his hands grasp hers from the angles that his fingers were too preoccupied to cover.

"Quistis?" he asked quietly, and gave Quistis a very easy time imagining the compassion or whatever emotion he might have had then.

"Mm?" she murmured distractedly.

"May I have this swim?"

"Huh?" she asked, oblivious like the cow on the train tracks.

He moved as quickly as he ever had on any of their missions. His arms were around her waist and before she began screaming and pounding his back Savior marched to one rail of the bridge and jumped into the water.

They weren't submerged for long. Quistis wriggled out of his grasp and struggled to the surface of the eight foot deep ring of water. Savior on the other hand allowed himself to float normally and laughed a machines laugh at Quistis who returned his mockery with a wet cats glare. Marcus's inherently imperious behavior was perhaps rubbing off on to Quistis, Savior half expected her to start licking the water off of herself and absently found that the image was comfortably easy to picture.

The death glare she was giving him clearly said that he had ruined the mood. And she was soon scanning the area for a way out of the water. Savior made no move to stop her not because he wanted her to leave –which of course he didn't—but because there was no discernable way out if one did not use a ladder or perhaps an ice spell to create a platform.

Quistis decided that very thing in moments and cursed out loud when she realized that everyone who would have a ladder was in the ball room. And that she wasn't carrying any magic on her at all, and as a PesticidE, Savior was not permitted to carry or use magic ever.

So why in the world had he brought them down there?

"You're enjoying this too much," she said with a mouthful of fake scorn.

He only laughed more, quieter now, but he laughed nonetheless. And with the sound of his laugh came tiny falls of water pouring out of his mouthpiece. One who didn't know the construction of the mouthpiece would be worried about electrocution in water, but really the mouthpiece was not technological the way a computer was, it was technological more the way a harmonica was.

"And all I did was ask you to dance," she crossed her arms and pouted which for a moment made him laugh louder.

"I can't have you catching me off guard now, if I start dancing with you then you'll probably hypnotize me and take this helmet off," he tapped his mask for emphasis.

"I only wanted to dance," she said assuredly, still pouting and still crossing her arms.

"But you still want this mask off of me, and humans scarcely fail to give in to temptation," he said philosophically with a nod of his head.

Quistis had to admit that no matter how much she enjoyed this mans company philosophy did not strike her as his strong suit, no matter how true his little quote may have sounded.

"You do realize that I will get you back for doing this right?" she asked with her teacher's tone which at that moment could not assist her as she was dripping with as much powerlessness as she was water.

"Anytime Quistis, anytime," he said carelessly and allowed himself to float freely under the bridge where Quistis had moved.

Quistis' hands reached out unexpectedly and pulled him to her hard and he found himself pinning her against the wall. Savior felt activity between them and found that she was unbuttoning his trench coat. He tried to push himself away but she held him tight and he only pulled her with him.

"I promise that I won't touch your helmet," she said honestly and as she had hoped he let down his guard and allowed her to finish unbuttoning the large garment.

Quistis had effectively changed the mood back Savior thought.

Beneath the coat he wore a generic white T-shirt, it looked fairly new and unloved she thought. She pulled the third pin from her hair and kept a firm grip on the belt around his pants to keep from drifting from him.

"Is this shirt very important to you?" she asked quietly and looking eager fidgeting with the pin in her left hand.

He shook his head and as soon as he did she put the pin in her teeth and unsheathed a slender blade from it. Underneath his mask Savior quirked an eyebrow. He was not surprised to see the weapon since he'd seen her use it on missions before, for lock picking and the like. But he didn't understand what she was going to use it for until she slid the blade from his neckline to his pelvis and unveiled his chest.

She re-sheathed the blade in the pin and replaced it into her miraculously still held up fishtail bun. As he had the whole time Savior did nothing. He just watched her and allowed her to do whatever it was she wanted as long as her hands stayed away from the switch on the back of his helmet.

His eye widened though when Quistis unzipped her dress and shrugged off the upper portion to leave it floating on the skin of the water like blood rippling from her belly. Quistis pressed herself against him so hard he thought he would later find a print of her breasts on his chest. Her arms were looped around him and if he didn't know better he would have thought that she was stuck there.

He put one hand against her bare lower back and with the other he stroked the back of her neck. Sometimes scratching the spot where the hairs were too short to be captured in her bun.

They didn't say anything else and almost fell asleep there. They wouldn't leave one hour, long after the commotion in the ball room would begin. For now they only relished the feeling of one another's skin they had been secretly yet openly craving for two long years.

_**EG**_

The six graduates were lined up. Standing erect and proud in their graduation uniforms, each one glowing with pride and or arrogance and because of her pair of pants Joselyn beamed brighter than any of them.

The Headmaster was nearing the end of the first half of his long winded speech –the speech that clearly bored even him, but Xu had a way with words and a liking for the classics and so the long speech stayed. After that segment of the speech the graduates would descend to the lower floor with everybody else and the remainder of the speech would then be uttered. That was the way it was every six months.

But for the six graduates this time was different if only a little bit because it was their graduation. They were the ones on the podium; they were the ones who had succeeded, they were the best of the survivors.

Those who were ignoring the Headmaster and those who were also ignoring their own resentment for not graduating themselves studied the new SeeDs and their attire. The graduation uniform was almost robe like since it was made for fit teenagers but was made with very much material, making the fabric swish and swirl when they moved. It was stark white and flared out at the waist, ankles and wrists. Around them they wore gold chains around their hips and one from shoulder to hip, and where those chains met their was a gold plated pocket watch with the symbol of the lion Griever imprinted on the top –allegedly the medic Mrs. Leonhart was responsible for that detail—the first five were much like Ruby dragons coming of age, showing off their brilliant new scales.

Grave was more like a Forbidden in a tutu.

He was the only one of the six graduates that was not paying attention to the speech. Even Joselyn was listening, though Grave noticed she was passing many glances at him while she did.

The looks she was giving him were unreadable to him. The same way a novel tease written in Centran wouldn't be understood by a Galbadian. Grave was not a man who received interested glances from women, so Joselyns inviting leers were interpreted as a small thing in her eye that she had not bothered to remove for whatever reason.

The people on the lower floor playing the part of the audience applauded at the climax of the first half and those who were sitting down stood. The Headmaster –dressed in an unfamiliar leather outfit that had made more than one student purr that night—gestured to the graduates. They bowed to the audience encouraging yet more applause and only when it died down did they descend the staircase into the pool of people.

The first four graduates stayed in the room for more champagne the finally of the speech. But Grave slipped out to the balcony away from the commotion where he would barely hear the applause. Joselyn was close at his heels but had not announced herself; she just followed him so they could speak privately.

Back on the podium Squall took a long drink of water and adjusted his jacket. It didn't feel quite right yet, there were creases in awkward spots from being folded for so long without being oiled and cleaned. He shrugged in his jacket once more and told himself he'd get used to it again. The old garment felt very reassuring on his shoulders. Squall grinned with an unusually devious smile that caught Rinoas attention from a distance though he didn't notice.

"Before I continue the mandatory speech I have an announcement to make," he said still smiling broadly while he took in the curious looks from both strangers and friends.

"As of now I…" he was interrupted by a golden spark at his foot.

He jumped almost a whole foot and caused a number of hushed isolated commotions in the crowd. He examined the area at his feet momentarily but saw nothing wrong. The crowd was watching him curiously and when he looked back to the crowd he immediately felt that he looked stupid.

"I, thought I saw something at my foot," he excused awkwardly and did his best to ignore the reaction and decided to worry about it later, he had an important announcement to make.

"Like I was saying," he re-began without the mirth from before. "As of now…" the spark came again but this time much brighter, so much brighter that everyone in the crowd could see it.

"Alright who's doing that?" he asked furiously into the mic, although it was perfectly feasible that there was a prankster in the crowd casting a small spell to annoy him, Squall could not think of spell that looked like a golden spark.

It was a questionable theory and possibly an impossible one since every member of the audience looked either shocked or distressed. He was not met with an answer. All he could hear was distress and other such sounds which did him no good. He relaxed, and waited for the crowd to quiet. He was about to speak again when there was yet another spark and then another. They were larger now and were bursting on all sides of him. The crowd was even louder than before but he couldn't hear them, the crackling and the sparking was too loud.

Squall prepared himself to roll off of the podium when he was struck by one of the bursts. It felt like a low level thunder spell but without the pain or the burns. A slim branch of light traveled through his spine like a worm burrowing a tunnel in the soil and soon the energy was everywhere. He felt the sensation of convulsion in his veins and his muscles and his bones and just before it was over he saw the golden light in his eyes, it was pooling in his eyes.

There was one final flash and it took Squall with it. The supposed spell had no after math. There was no remaining electricity, no bits of energy to fall to the floor and fizzle like grease in the frying pan. There was nothing, and Squall was no where to be seen.

Nobody said anything. Irvine had stopped hitting on Netta, Selphie stood behind a puddle of coffee and cheerios where her bowl had shattered, and Zell was still in mid-gulp of a frank and amazingly was still breathing right –as was Irvine whose neck was stuck in Zells grasp. And the students were still. The only sound for the time being was the bubbling of the champagne, and the breaths lodged in Rinoas throat just before she screamed.

_**EG**_

…meanwhile…

Fujin had been informed that morning of a mission she would start the following morning. She had already assigned a commendable PesticidE –recommended by Savior himself—to take her place in the Training Center while she was gone. She was packed already, or packed as in her own definition of packed; meaning her clothes were on her, her weapon was secured to her shoulder, and her wallet was in her pocket.

But she would not leave before it was necessary if she could help it. So she watched the water splash and tumble in the bright night. She watched the silvery moonlight ripple with her memories of that same light being compared to her own hair. By Seifer of course, back when he was still with them.

The mission was unlike any she had received before and she was morbidly excited by it. The time she spent at B-Garden the first year after the Ultimecia event was in Esthar cleaning the streets and sewers of Moon monsters. The following years had been miscellaneous and mostly boring activities; such as the liberation of Timber –which hadn't happened so much because of B-Garden as it had because of President Caraway—kidnap rescuing and assassinations. This new mission was interesting though, and she almost spoke more than three words when she'd received it.

She was to locate and bring back with her the Guardian Force Terra. It had apparently been a hush, hush type of mission that had been going on for years now, the mission being passed on from SeeD to SeeD as everyone before her had given up. And of course, with her borrowed arrogance she was much like her predecessors in that she was determined to be the last SeeD assigned to the task.

As arrogant as she was Fujin was still sensible. She understood why the others had given up and why she was expected to do the same eventually. The information on the Guardian Force was vague at best. All they knew about her were the things depicted in old murals in the Shumi Village caverns. She was the daughter of a woman and the Guardian Force Maduin and was depicted most often to look human herself. With wavy green hair and red garments.

Allegedly she had another form. But the Shumi's murals were of no help in that department. Her story was such that she had changed one day and flew off in a frenzy never to be found again. Her location was probably a mystery even to her father who they did have custody of. Fujin prayed as atheists pray that she would be the one to find the elusive spirit. Like her long lost friend, she relished bragging rights. But she was also curious about the Guardian herself. What was it to be the daughter of a human and a Guardian Force? Did she look completely normal or did she have little horns or flippers somewhere?

Fujin looked on the water once more. It would be good for her to take her mind off of the upcoming mission for the time being. She allowed herself little rest even when she wasn't working, so it would be wise for her to allow herself to relax before the mission. She would have plenty of time to ask Terra her questions when she found her.

Fujin felt a spasm in her foot but ignored it. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and sighed and was allowed one last look at the silver and dark of the waterscape before her body flashed and disappeared where there was no one to see the golden light.

_**EG**_

Whoever designed this graduation uniform is a transvestite.

That isn't to say that I have anything against transvestites, because I don't. These pants don't look like pants, they look like a skirt. And the shirt could be a dress if it was only a little longer. I know that I'm not a fashion critic, and I don't care, this outfit looks like a dress and because of that I'm amazed that Joselyn looks so happy in hers.

Criticizing other things I have found is an effect method of keeping your mind off of yourself. That is what I need right now. After listening to that leather bound leader of ours talk about me and my new comrades for a half hour I need to think about something else. I need something that could be worse than me.

And although this 'dress' isn't at all worse than I am it's all that I can think of right now.

I suck in the cool night air and let it all out in one wad of a breath. I've always loved the cold for as long as I can remember. I imagine that all corpses enjoy the cold since it is the moist soil we always place them in. Whenever I see images of bodies burning or being shoveled into a gaping hole together I swear I am not imagining the discontent on their faces. Even a murder victim must look adequately content on a cool linoleum floor. I can imagine a corpse with a face depicting horror but the flesh it self relaxing gratefully.

She's trying to sneak up on me but I know much better. I can't hear her because she has taken off her shoes and because she's controlling her breathing well. But I can feel her presence behind me. It's almost like she has an aura for I and I alone to identify. I feel my body gradually absorbing it like water soaking a rag. I swear that I am not imagining it, in fact I can almost see it, and I can almost see a soft blue light ascending like flames and spilling like water and carrying the tiniest white snowflakes that leave a pleasant burning sensation on my skin that goes as instantly as it comes.

"Hello Joselyn," I say and smile when I hear her huff in aggravation.

"How did you know I was here?" she asks like the villain wondering how the hero made it past the traps.

"A little snowflake told me." I say cryptically and silent, refuse to elaborate.

"Hmm, a snowflake huh?" she mumbles disinterestedly and catches me off guard when she touches my face.

She brushes the hair hanging over the right side of my face. Then she presses her cheek against my own and crushes her body against my back. Her arms wrap around my chest and one of her hands palms the area over my heart as if she wants to monitor my embarrassment.

Only for a moment I'm allowed to chuckle because her butt is no doubt sticking out behind her since she needs to lean down a lot to reach me like this, but the amusement that's keeping me from blushing is short lived. My blush probably looks like Strawberry Juice.

She snuggles against me and immediately I damn this uniform once more. I won't be able to face her with an erection like this. I wouldn't be able to tie it down with a chain for heavens sake.

What is it now, eighteen painful erections this girl has given me in two days? That's a record, I know it is.

"I still haven't forgiven you for jumping out of the whelp two days ago," she says and snuggles even more, intentionally making me aware of how her breasts are pressed against my back.

"Then I'm sorry," I say with a tone of mine that I don't recognize, or perhaps I'm just too preoccupied by how fast my heart is slamming against her hand.

"You'll have to do better than that," she whispers and her voice slithers into my ear so my blush darkens to Tomato. "But I'll think of something later," she says quietly after taking her face away from mine so she can speak directly in my ear, her tongue comes out with that last syllable and ever so slightly brushes my ear lobe.

She lingers there for a moment before she moves away; she peers around my face to get a look at my shameful eyes and my neck protests against me to let her look. The thing is I want a close look at _her_ eyes as well, I want to think about how I might lick them to see if they taste like lime candy as absurd as that may sound.

She moves away from me and I stop breathing when her hand almost brushes the other reaction she got out of me and hopefully hasn't seen. Oh well, its dark out, maybe she won't see the white bulge in middle of the darkness, this damned white fabric standing out just like her left eye did yesterday.

I watch her out of the corner of my eye. She pulls a cigarette out of one her braids… clever girl… and lights it without the use of her lighter.

"How are you lighting that?" I ask with an embarrassing squeak that makes her smile at me and mutter 'cute' I thank the darkness for hiding my face as much as it might be, my face is no doubt up to Fire Truck Red now.

"I'll tell you another time." She says arrogantly and simply swallows the smoke from the cigarette.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" I ask expecting an answer, and I am disappointed when she's silent, I was hoping for another cutting remark…

Joselyn has nothing to say to that and she simply smokes and watches me in the dark. I only glance to her occasionally and curse silently whenever she looks down. After she finishes her cigarette she flicks it away and watches as it perhaps in hope to see the butt explode when it touches the rotating rings that allow the establishment to fly. She shrugs when it vanishes and she approaches me again.

"I want to ask you something." I only nod for her to continue. "I've heard other people ask you this before but you never give them the same answer." Damn it… I don't hide the disappointment on my face because I want her to see it, I thought that she was different from everybody else. "Why do you go by Grave?" there it is, the dreaded question that I thought she was going to leave to rest.

I don't say anything; I scowl and watch the water and the moonlight. I do my best not to move at all and thankfully my erection subsides even though she's so close to me. I imagine that my face isn't flushed anymore since the welcome feeling of coldness has retuned to my skin, ironically thanks in part to Joselyn. She waits for a long time, and without looking at her I can tell that she's sad, but she deserves it, I don't want to tell her.

Eventually she strokes my hair with one hand and leaves me alone on the balcony. I take a deep unnecessary breath and something in me forces me to imagine the feeling of ice-water and soil, and a cold feeling on my back not quite as unpleasant as the coldness of Joselyn's absence that is there now.

"Because I belong in one."

_Black Blood Vessel is a fictional band. 'The Limerick' believe it or not is a real book, try to find a copy if you like that sort of thing, I think it's highly entertaining. Another highly entertaining read is a Seiftis oneshot called 'What you're actually thinking' by 'RubyTuesday13', I recommend it._


	5. Days Of Sappiness

_Disclaimer and A/N: I don't own it and I never will, got it? Good, I also don't own any of the words that have come out of Chris Griffin's mouth, and I don't own Invader Zim or any of the dialogue from Futurama. A grand thank you goes to **Juusan Ikkiuchi** for whom this chapter is dedicated, and a related thank you goes to **Noacat**. **Juusan **was kind enough to draw fan art for me -and it looks fantastic by the way- and **Noacat** told me how to put links in my profile. Sadly, it doesn't work yet, but when it does I will say so._

_**Juusan Ikkiuchi:** This chapter and certain sections of part six are dedicated to you, you'll see next month. On another note YOU ARE THE COOLEST REVIEWER EVER BECAUSE YOU DRAW FOR ME!_

_**Shadow Story & Shadow Story**: Wow, I've made somebody like FF8 as much as 7, I feel so arrogant now. You're the first to compliment the Joselyn character like that. One person really likes Grave, another likes Cody, and now I have you; the triangle is complete. You may be on to something, maybe… Thanks for all of your compliments._

_**Serene Angel Wing (formerly known as Angel of Apocalypse)**: No, as far as I know I have no Japanese blood in me. I have another *Munches on thrown candy* **LOYAL READER) reader) **reader) I just love the way that rolls off the tongue with the reverb and everything. Reviews like yours make me want to write more so thanks a lot._

_**Ghost140:** Thanks for reading! And all four chapters before I uploaded this one at that. I hope you stay interested._

_I will light the match this morning so I won't be alone_

_Watch as she lies silent for soon light will be gone_

_I will stand arms out stretched; pretend I'm free to roam_

_I will make my way through one more day in hell._

_How much difference does it make? How much difference does it make?_

_I will hold the candle 'til it burns up my arm_

_I'll keep taking punches until their will grows tired_

_I will stare the sun down until my eyes go blind_

_I won't change direction, and I won't change my mind._

_How much difference does it make? How much difference does it make?_

_I'll swallow poison until I grow immune_

_I will scream my lungs out until it fills this room_

_How much difference… how much difference…_

_How much difference does it make? How much difference does it make?_

_How much difference does it make?_

_Indifference by Pearl Jam._

**Part Five: Days of Sappiness**

**Much to do much to do**

One human being can only cry so much. And contrary to what Squall might have thought Quistis and the others now believed more than ever that Rinoa was more than human.

In the following weeks after the Headmasters… sudden evanescence, life at B-Garden had become as gloomy as he once was –or _still_ was as the heroes put it in defense for their friend's life. The students and staff members played the part of the impartial mourners, few if none of them were sad for their leader's literal disappearance but they would smile sadly and nod to the heroes when they saw them. The heroes saw through it all but said nothing because they were the kinds of people who took in sympathy even if they knew it was false.

Except perhaps Zell who had been kept under control only by Netta.

His first outburst after the incident had come after slipping on the coffee and Cheerios Selphie had spilled. Which given the circumstances was still comical but not appreciated as such for obvious reasons. The second outburst –the first one as far as Zell was concerned since he didn't count the cereal slip—was when he had gotten back to the couples dorm he shared with Netta who had told Quistis all about his tirade after it had happened.

How it began as suspicion that a cadet or someone else in the Garden was hording some new unknown spell and how it segued into her and how she hadn't been driving Irvine away as of late. Quistis hadn't been told of the whole fight and she was glad but from what she could tell Zell was having some hidden hostility for Irvine lately.

On another distressing note Zell had told Quistis about a personal problem similar to theirs from Raijin concerning Fujin. She was apparently to go on a mission the day after the graduation ceremony but was nowhere to be found after that night ya know. Zell told her how he told Raijin that Fujin must have just left early and how Raijin had countered saying that it wasn't like her to leave before a friend saw her off ya know.

From the way Zell had explained the whole thing to her Quistis thought Zell thought little about it. But Quistis was suspicious, somehow this fed her that theory that someone in the Garden had their hands an unknown spell and was using it for nefarious purposes. But it still raised the same questions, why had it happened on the night of the graduation ceremony? Had the same thing in fact happened to Fujin? And if that was true why did it only happen to the two moodiest members of the academy?

Quistis forced her mind back in the direction of her wrecked friend. Everyone had been hit hard by what had happened to Squall, Zell let loose bursts of sound from his decidedly big mouth –which hadn't actually caused very much trouble as of late—and Netta listened to him rant so as to distract herself from her own thoughts and feelings. Selphie cried her eyes out occasionally but also took the distraction route with Garden Festival plans with Irvine who had his own silent way of coping. Quistis herself would mourn in her room quietly and find as much time as she could to spend with Savior, but Rinoa…

Rinoa unlike Squalls childhood makeshift family could not shake her depression. She could not even pretend to feel okay. She would lock herself in her room when she was not working and only allow Dr. Kadowaki and her 'heroic female counterparts' in with her.

Dr. Kadowaki of course would only come to see her on business whenever there was information for them to transact after work hours, but unlike the students and staff members the good Doctor had genuine condolences for the bride. Her motherly care for the members of B-Garden must have been inspiring for Rinoa because her job was the only thing that could get her out of her apartment.

The entire area of the Leonhart quarters was littered with mucus, tissue paper and remorse. Like lovers tend to do, Rinoa was blaming herself. She ignored the fact that she had no warning for what had happened to Squall, and, that although she was a sorceress she still didn't know what happened and therefore could not have prevented it.

But still she moped and moaned and lumbered in their quarters. Unlike her friends Zell and Selphie who had decided to distract them themselves –which held a certain kind wisdom to Quistis which surprised her since Selphie and Zell weren't exactly considered the pinnacles of wisdom.

Actually it was unknown to Quistis that Rinoa was employing that same wisdom. She employed it in her work, in helping the people who she _could_ help. She still brought herself to help the students who weren't quite as important to her but to whose health she felt equally responsible.

Now the four women were again in the apartment; munching disinterestedly on corn chips and avoiding one another's eyes when they didn't really mean too.

At some point Quistis and Netta kept their eyes locked for more than a few seconds and read in each others eyes and the quivers of their lips the same four words 'This is going nowhere.'

The four women finished chewing on their respective chips and before Quistis or Netta could say a word Rinoa surprised everyone by lifting a small smile and casting glances to her three friends.

"So, how are _your_ love lives?" she asked with a hint of dark humor. It went unappreciated –even by her—but the other three women smiled sadly with her nonetheless.

"Irvine's still flirting with me." Netta said with the same sad mirth but managing to focus most of everyone's attention on the playful accusatory tone directed to Selphie who only narrowed her eyes and smirked a little bit more.

"Don't worry honey I'll whip it out of him soon," she answered assuredly and popped a chip into her mouth.

"Zell's been doing better lately, actually I think that he's been consoling Raijin because he's more depressed than Zell is now." Netta spoke again and her friends could tell that she regretted it a little since she was implying Squalls vanishing, but they just as quickly forgave her and didn't need to say so.

"Irvy's been pretty quiet lately but he's been a better help with Garden Festival work." Selphie mentioned and immediately got Quistis' attention.

"I swear Selphie only you would plan something like a Garden Festival right after one ends," said Quistis who then took three chips and popped each one into her mouth simultaneously.

The others giggled for a moment and then by what seemed to Quistis to be a tri-unspoken agreement they nodded to each other then turned their heads to her. Quistis eyed her friends suspiciously and bit down on the chips with a resounding crunch. She sucked in each chip one by one and watched her friends suspiciously in turn depending on which chip was pointing toward which friend as she chewed them.

After three minutes of stalling she was left with no choice but to utter those dreaded nine words that nobody wanted to speak when in the company of close friends.

"Why are you three looking at me like that?"

Her friends smirked as evilly as those in mourning were permitted and scooted their way to the spots around Quistis that would have her surrounded like wild cats hunting and innocent little defenseless wildebeest.

Quistis was regretting speaking at all now; she had surely written her own death wish by doing so. Her friends continued to smirk at her in the same manner until the suspense of her impending mind torture got to her and repeated herself.

It was going to be about her love life, she knew it, it always was.

"I repeat 'Why are you three looking at me like that?'" she asked darkly and was disappointed when her friend's expressions wavered, no matter how glad she was that she could see them like this again.

"So how was your little date with Savior?" it was Selphie who asked the six hundred million Gil question, and due to the unfortunate events of late Selphie would get away with it.

"What do you mean?" she asked knowing exactly what she meant, her chin higher now due to trying to break the gaze she was holding between her three friends.

"You know," said Netta this time, trying on her innuendo tone that still didn't sound quite right to Quistis coming from the quiet little librarian.

"We saw you leaving with him during the graduation ceremony Quistis, we _know_ didn't just play wallflower all night," said Rinoa this time, giving off only a dull shadow of her old glow, but giving it off nonetheless.

"I do not know what you're talking about," she said feigning snobbishness which got her desired reaction of giggles but did not distract her friends from the topic they had brought up, Quistis sighed in defeat but Rinoa did not interpret it that way and pushed her even more.

"Come one Quisty," she said quietly and allowed her smirk to descend.

Quistis looked at Rinoa and much to her chagrin was taken in by the eye pouting that would normally get nothing from her. This was a dirty trick and they all knew it. When Rinoa did this she would always do it to Squall, who would then grumble, and depending on the task assigned he would either do what he was told or pretend that she was only joking. Normally Rinoas despair was fake and obviously so, but now in front of Quistis it was real and when taken into consideration she wasn't really asking for very much.

"Okay this is what happened," the moment she spoke those fabled words the other three women shuffled even closer to her like she was little Gregory telling his newly adolescent friends about the porn he had found that morning.

"I was getting sick of the ceremony so I looked for him and I of course found him at the entrance staying away from the festivities," the other women nodded and waved their hands for her to go on.

"I asked him to dance and after a little while he said 'not here,'" she was beginning to feel disgustingly preppy because she was starting to take the same tone that Rinoa and Selphie tended to take when talking about this sort of thing, but she was only in the middle of it all and decided the time to stop and make her excuse to leave had not arrived quite yet.

"We made it to the hallway outside of the Quad and when we got there he took off his gloves." Rinoa squeaked audibly and got the attention of the other women because of it; she looked between the others and explained herself.

"That's _so _sweet Quistis! You've had a crush on him for like two year's right?" she asked Quistis and infuriated her silently with the same genuine despair that obligated her to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Quistis bit her lip softly and gave herself a moment to glare down Rinoa with hooded eyes.

"Yes," she said like it was a trivial detail but still got squeaks all around her this time.

"Anyway, we positioned our hands and everything when he said 'May I have this swim?'" she said deciding to mock him a little by trying to mimic the monotone voice and only half succeeding in bastardizing it, but the others got it anyway.

"May I have this swim?" Netta asked sounding dubious.

"And then he picked me up and jumped into the water," she said with finality.

The girl's eyes bugged out of their heads and just for a little while they got to forget about everything, but it would only be a little while. Which was why they would only be a little grateful after it was over.

The girls went into a fit of giggles and Quistis allowed herself to join them. They collectively allowed themselves to fall over and roll around on their shoulders and knees until they could summon the relief to sit up again. Rinoa was the first to recover and after she did she tapped Quistis on the thigh and caught her eyes for further interrogation.

"So what happened after that?" she asked incredulously, thinking that she knew what had happened already and in reality only being half right.

"Well we were down there for what must have been an hour…" Quistis said off handedly turning her head away and wiggling one hand in the air, then instantly she regretted saying that part and had to make herself look at her friends after she said it.

She saw three identical expressions each one making her want to stop thinking and talking, each one saying 'I will believe this even if it is fiction'. Quistis tried to sigh, but she found that her lungs wouldn't permit it, she wasn't even holding a breath and she couldn't bring herself to sigh in front of her friends who only meant well. She couldn't help but feel used –in a forgivable way, but nonetheless used.

"So what did you two do for an hour?" Selphie said the same way Rinoa had said her part but with a bit more surprise and delight.

"Um…" she bit her lip and moved her eyes back to the bowl of chips but was soon again met with the faces of her 'so called friends' when they leaned together to block her vision.

Quistis tapped her teeth with one gloved fingernail –and being gloved it sounded less like a tap and more like nothing- this little gesture was meant to give the impression that she was thinking about it but in reality she was trying to distract herself from thinking so as to not think of a way to put the details she wanted to keep to herself. The preppy teenager in her no matter how insignificant she may have been was now flaring with excitement and urging Quistis to tell them every carnal/sappy detail.

She needed a way out, and fast.

The other girls remained in the same positions even after the minutes ticked by and Quistis was starting to wonder how their skeletons would hold up if she kept stalling like she was. Now tinged a bit with guilt Quistis decided to actually let her self think and she thought fast.

What would Grave say? She thought suddenly. She was feeling a bit too hopeful from that thought really, she was feeling inspired the way an alcoholic might after discovering the equally addictive properties of coffee and cigarettes.

Although one might not think that Grave was not the best with people Quistis knew better than that, the truth was that people weren't good with Grave. When given the chance the boy could be quite clever and even polite when he tried hard enough, perhaps now was a time to learn from his sometimes inappropriate brand of wit.

Quistis' grin was positively cat like when she regarded her hunched friends once again. They elevated their eyebrows and their lips and thought for one brief moment that their friend had finally come around to the gossips table with them.

"We discussed the new graph equations for the 'Algebra in Magic' class and made fun of Irvine's chaps," she spoke with deliberately purr-like syllables and felt the unusual feeling of her lips stretching when she smiled more at her friends disappointed faces.

Selphie looked particularly insulted for a brief second before all three broke into a lighter fit of giggles which was also brief and suggested the words 'this isn't over' and 'you aren't getting away that easily.'

Quistis ignored those implications however and stood up.

"Sorry girls but I have to go," she said picking her hairpins up from the table and fixed her hair frantically as she tried to escape.

"Oh come on Quisty tell us!" Selphie said pleadingly sounding like she was pretending Quistis hadn't just mocked the chaps she loved so.

"I have to oversee Grave and Joselyn's demo videos today," she excused but to no avail, even after she was in the hallway and on her way to the Training Center she heard the three girls though she heard Rinoa more than the other two.

She was not deceiving her friends; she really had made that appointment. Although it was true that those in mourning could be expected to work as well as normal mourning was trivial to bureaucracy and in the mercenary business there was always a certain amount of bureaucracy.

It was still business as usual whether anybody was comfortable with that or not.

"You will tell us what happened under the bridge Quistis Trepe!" Quistis ignored the fake motherly tone Rinoa was trying to take, that tone had no authority over her unless if it came from Edea and these days Edea seemed too preoccupied to speak to her old children.

Quistis looked over her shoulder before she rounded the corner but the three girls had already retreated into the Leonhart quarters. On her way out of the Dormitory area Quistis allowed herself to pierce a smirk through the depression quickly running like mucus over and in her body again. She had successfully gotten Rinoa to breathe fresh air without going to work.

_I'm still a failure she thought, but I still have my victories every now and then._

And these victories were rather small like the one she just had but in retrospect it was actually a great victory. Quistis made herself think about Rinoa rather than Squall for the rest of her walk to see her former students.

_**EG**_

Savior struck the center of the punching bag again. He knew it was unwise to practice repetitive patterns like he was, and he knew that it was unconventional to strike a punching bag with a wooden sword. But Xu wasn't around to complain so he could get away with it for the time being.

Savior wasn't quite sure how to feel about the Headmasters flashy exit a week ago. He knew that Headmaster Leonhart was a good leader; he knew that B-Garden would likely go under if they were without him for too long, but he couldn't seem to summon any remorse or disappointment.

In the time Savior had been acquainted with B-Gardens leader he had never felt concerned about the man's health. Even on those few missions they had been on together when he had rescued him. He could never bring himself to be concerned.

Somehow he knew their leader was alive and still on Gaia. And he knew that Leonhart would return to Garden when the time was right, he did have a reputation for coming at the right time after all, just like most superhuman heroes.

Much like Savior himself had become since his instatement as the resident body guard although being a soldier who didn't harbor a Guardian Force who couldn't quite call himself superhuman.

Savior made him self concentrate and began striking the punching bag with more fervor and precision. He planned his attacks consecutively as he would against a normal opponent and he scolded himself by starting over whenever he dubbed certain movement's mistakes.

To tell the truth Savior was not a man who was fond of katas. He was more inclined to read the movements of his target and judge how to attack based on that and that alone

–unless of course he had other things to think about such as monsters or other enemies but that was different.

But he was not restricted to this motionless enemy –really it was just a target but it made him want to hit it more if he thought of it as an enemy- because Quistis had blurted to Xu about their romance of that fateful evening under the Quads bridge.

It was considered irresponsible behavior to leap into the water ring and it was considered even more irresponsible to allow your uniform to be mutilated for whatever reason, even if that reason was your ex-teacher coming on to you and taking things a bit farther with a pin knife.

No, scratch that, in Xu's opinion it would be '_especially _if that reason was your ex-teacher coming on to you and taking things a bit farther with a pin knife'.

Xu claimed that he was being punished solely because of his 'breach of protocol' which was really just him breaking a couple of stupid rules. But Savior knew the real reason was Xu being over protective of her friend. On one level he could relate to her. Although technically he was protective of numerous people Savior understood the need to guard ones friends. He understood perfectly well that Quistis shouldn't have to put up with a crush that had to wear a mask every moment they were together.

But he was still pissed.

He threw the stick in the general direction of the rack that it belonged on and didn't even look back when it clattered to the floor instead.

Savior's countenance when not in the public eye was most blinding especially in an area like the one he was in then, and at that time it was quite pointless since he was the only one there. Like any other area of the Garden Norgs former quarters was kept bright and polished and left only the sins of its inhabitants to dirty it.

If it were true that each human had an aura then Saviors would be disturbingly like mud.

Like any other SeeD or variation of SeeD –really anybody with experience working on the battlefield- Savior admitted that he had the metaphorical stench of murder swirling around him, and like any other SeeD or variation of SeeD he would only admit to about half of the things he could be accused of.

The rumor that many if not all PesticidEs were criminals was true, though it was most and not all. Savior was an exception in his own opinion; he wasn't really a criminal, not really.

Concerning the true criminals they were grateful to have a place of their own to be safe in. True they were responsible for a number of things that were at the very least unpleasant and the very most unforgivable, but they were still human beings and it was Hynes word whether you believed in her or not that redemption awaited every sentient being.

They were not required to state their crimes if they were indeed criminals because whatever crime they had committed in the past was trivial –and besides Xu could whip just about anybody into shape- that was how desperate B-Garden was for bodyguards but really any fear one might have of them was silly. In Saviors time as the first PesticidE he had inspected many an ex-criminals behavior and he could say truthfully they caused no trouble for B-Garden. In fact it was non-criminals like the late Carbuncle that made Savior wary of any comrade of his who might _not_a criminal.

It was perhaps silly and even unfair to think that, but such was the way his mind worked.

"Damnit Carbuncle," he said and slapped his wet fist against the doorway to his room before the door slid shut behind him.

He and Carbuncle had been close. Not as close as he wanted to be with Quistis but close the same way comrades were close under fire, though their friendliness was not strictly for the battlefield.

His relationship with Carbuncle had been very pleasant but at the same time it was confusing and towards the end it was even worrisome. There were times when she could be as flirtatious with him as Quistis. Which needless to say had him a bit nervous when in the company of both women; it was times like those ones that made him very grateful for the mouthpiece attached to his helmet to keep them from hearing the shake –mild shake- in his voice.

One of the many things that occupied his thoughts about her were questions –which were probably stupid questions- like 'would she have betrayed us if I had fucked her?' and there were many times he could think of when he would have done that, although he didn't know at the time that she was working for the other side.

But even when considering those times Quistis always managed to slip into the already complicated mess. With her butt swaying only enough for him to notice and that pleased smirk that sent his heart spinning beside his lung and irritating it like the librarian watching the loudmouth in the library –or Netta watching Zell in the library as a more local example.

He knew he would have felt like betraying her had he indulged what he and Carbuncle had wanted respectfully, and it shamed him only a little bit to think he would have let her die even if it could have been different.

He didn't want to think about Carbuncle right now. What he really wanted was to put on his uniform and defy Xu by looking for Quistis but he knew that would only get him more time to spend alone in the PesticidE area alone, with his thoughts and attractive, traitorous ghosts.

"Damnit Xu."

Savior looked forward to his a new mission. He was not so much looking forward to the actual mission activity as he was to be sent off by Quistis. He knew it would be her although he didn't know what the mission would be, it was a designation rule with PesticidE's and Instructors, it may have been pointless but it apparently made it easier to keep track of things. And he had a feeling he would be working with those two recent graduates that Quistis was always talking about: Grave and Joselyn.

Savior took his weapon from his closet and reentered the expanse of the main area, this time ignoring the punching bag he practiced whatever katas came to mind to keep him self from thinking too much. He focused on the movements and the imaginary enemies and kept from burning the whole area down just to go upstairs.

_**EG**_

Joselyn stabbed another Grat and quickly hopped away from it when the white milky substance poured out of its belly. The poor thing fell over and made a sound no plant should be able to make and gurgled with the same white substance in what must have been its throat for a few seconds before it coughed up a sizable wad of plant matter and went limply still.

Joselyn scanned the area and found no Grat left standing -or standing in the opening anyway. The felled ones had melted already for the most part and were now wet white piles quickly being absorbed into the soil.

She stepped over to the log where Grave was lying down and picked up the second towel which had not yet been soaked with the plants thick blood and wiped her sword dry. She took her 'look at my butt' stance and kept her eyes on Grave whose eyes were still closed and therefore unappreciative. She frowned but made no sounds and resisted the urge to get his attention by poking him with her sword.

"Aren't you supposed to be training right now?" she asked really only because she wanted for him to do something, anything.

"We're only taping our special skills so no," he responded deadpan.

"You're not going to work yourself up?" she asked still trying to get a desired reaction from him.

"I'll be worked up when my turn comes," he said with just a bit of feeling that must have been forced out by his sigh.

Joselyn's weapon clicked back into place loudly. She threw the towel to one end of the log and spun around leaving her arms limp to spin as they liked and she plopped down next to Graves head.

The sound of the wood breaking and swallowing Joselyn's butt was louder than the weapon clicking into place had been. And Graves laughter was even louder than that. Joselyn gave him a sour look and was sure to hold it after he finally looked at her. He was again using that grin of his that she didn't entirely dislike and even now wanted to smile at him for it, almost.

"So," she glared at him, resisting her urge to smile with him, "are you going to help me?" she asked sharply.

Grave said nothing for a moment; instead he tapped one finger against his chin and kept grinning at her. Joselyn's patience was wearing thin and was only wearing thinner since Grave wouldn't stop smirking, and because she couldn't tap her foot to show her impatience since it was suspended in the air. They stayed that way for a bit longer before Grave finally did something.

"Somebody's getting _faaaaat…_" he said without moving any inch of him but his grin with a tone that had better have been sarcasm; that is if he knew what was good for him.

"Oh, you are so going to die for that," she said and squirmed in the log and winced when she just wedged herself further inside the wood, then she winced inwardly when she saw that Graves grin was even sharper.

"Well if you're going to be pissy then I won't help you at all," he said haughtily and spun on his heel, then he pretended to examine his finger nails like the ditz's who pined for Instuctor Kinneas.

Joselyn scowled defiantly and tried to lift herself out of the log. While she struggled Grave looked over his shoulder and watched the show knowing that he'd be helping her in a moment once the humor of the situation died down.

Joselyn's stomach muscles were starting to hurt so she dropped and relaxed as much as she could in her compromising position. Apparently Grave had decided that it wasn't funny anymore because he stopped fooling around with his fingernails and leaned over her to grab her hands.

_Now seems like a good time to get back at him_, she thought.

Once he had a firm grip on her hands Joselyn pulled him off of his feet and onto her body, then she wrapped her arms and legs around his torso and watched happily at the reaction she had earned.

"Roll over," she demanded, and was more than surprised when he did it quickly.

Grave planted his hands and feet on the sturdiest things they could find and did as he was told to the side of the log that he had been laying on a minute ago. Joselyn's butt –which was in fact not fat—was wrenched out of the log with traces of plant matter and tree-dirt. Grave was trying very hard to resist his urge to wipe said debris off.

Once again Grave found himself under Joselyn's warm slender body. And once again he was at a loss for what to do about it. He noted absently that Joselyn did a fantastic job of changing the mood between them. And she always seemed to change it to… this, whatever this was.

All he knew about it was that it felt very, very good. So he was just going to lay back and wait for it to end.

And it did end quickly this time.

"I'm glad to see that you two are getting along so well." Quistis' voice came through the ears of the two protagonists like a living thread slithering it's way through the eyes of two needles lying beside one another.

Joselyn bolted upright at the sound of her adversary's voice; she stood straighter than she would normally even for a formal event. When Quistis finally approached them Joselyn blinked stupidly a couple of times and then looked as if she had drove ten miles from the house and had forgotten to turn the gas off. She grabbed Graves hand before he could help himself up and yanked him onto his feet.

Quistis took a moment to take in the cute sight in front of her. On one side she saw an unusually tall girl looking embarrassed for indulging youthful pleasures in front of an elder. And on the other side her bright yet gloomy student who was still rubbing his sore head. He stood, the look on his face betrayed the fact that he had just been lying with the beauty he'd insulted.

Quistis decided to cut the awkwardness short although it was most entertaining. She was glad for little moments like these but she was still mourning and such little moments could not be enjoyed as they could normally.

"Are you two ready to make your Demonstration Videos?" the awkwardness had been split just as she had hoped, the teenagers in front of her stiffened differently, changing from the 'whoops' feeling to serious eagerness.

The Demonstration Videos were a recent installment to the features of B-Garden's hiring system. For the more generous –that is to say, wealthier- clients the Garden provided videos to demonstrate the superhuman abilities some of their soldiers possessed. They were taken to the training center and engaged in a fight of their choosing for documentation.

A shorter way of putting it was 'Let the kids show off.'-Zell's way of putting it.

Before agreeing to do this Quistis was dubious about how Grave would make his video. The program was strictly for the soldiers who had Special Skills and Grave had never developed one. This was not to say that he would be an ineffective SeeD, contrary to popular belief not all SeeDs developed Special Skills but many of the ones who didn't went on to be just as successful as any of the ones who did. But Grave had assured her that he had another way to impress the camera.

He had also said to bring a bag of blood; needless to say Quistis did just that but didn't quite know what to think.

"Did you bring it?" Grave asked abruptly, and ignored the curious look Joselyn was giving him.

"I did," said Quistis with all the dubiousness she had from when he had asked her.

She reached inside the space between her belt and the black skirt cloth over her hip and produced a tiny packet of blood. Quistis didn't miss the concern on Joselyn when she handed it to Grave and Joselyn didn't miss Quistis noticing her, and unusually she did nothing to scorn her.

It was at this point Quistis began to worry.

Grave only put the packet in his pocket then watched both women in turn until Quistis broke the silence.

"So which one of you two want to go first?" Grave and Joselyn looked at each other briefly and before Joselyn opened her mouth Grave pointed at her, she chose to say nothing then nodded to Quistis.

"What would you like to fight?" said Quistis doing very well with her feigned politeness with her female student.

She often had to wonder what it was that irked her about that Amazon of a girl. Quistis sighed inwardly at that thought, whatever it was that did irk her it seemed it was mostly inactive at the moment, no use wondering about it, times like these were meant to be enjoyed.

Grave brought Quistis from her brief reverie by snapping his fingers in front of her face. She made a rude face to Grave just as briefly and pardoned herself to Joselyn who was showing a bit of her normal contempt again.

"I said that I'll just fight a couple of Grats," Joselyn said enunciating each syllable more than was necessary, and getting just the face from Quistis that she wanted.

"If there are any left," Grave mumbled, but audibly.

Joselyn made another rude face for Grave who replied only by strolling away from the two women. Instead of complaining they shared the kind of look they could only share with each other and followed Grave to the other side of the Training Center which was undoubtedly the only area where there were any Grats left.

They found him lounging in a small but sturdy tree away from the path and out of Joselyn's way. Joselyn watched him lying on the life form as if it were comfortable and kept walking towards him even after Quistis stopped behind her. She didn't notice yet the two Grats that he had stopped for upon noticing and she didn't yet notice Quistis trying to announce that very thing to her.

She stopped once she was unknowingly within an equal distance of her fellow humans. For another moment she let her mind wander from things like battles –like the one she was supposed to be engaging in- and tests and find its way to Grave. He had not noticed her she could tell; she thought that reverie was a decidedly distinct and stable thing for Grave. His eyes would hood themselves for the most part but still leave a glitter of those eyes, and he stopped moving the black feathers of hair out of his face.

A flash of gold light running over her eyes like glowing water halted her reverie before it began.

She spun around to see a stern look from Quistis who was standing equally sternly a few feet away from her. With sparks of the Aura spell she had just cast dripping to the grass and giving the grass spots of a yellow glow that would be gone within the hour.

"Where's the camera?" Joselyn demanded while implying to her former Instructor that they would not discuss her reverie especially if it was about Grave, but her warning went either unnoticed or was simply uninteresting because Quistis had something else on her mind it seemed.

"There are cameras all over the room Joselyn, just start when you're ready," she said tiredly, Joselyn ignored whatever sympathy she might have felt and nodded to the blonde woman.

She approached her victims with a strut that was decidedly arrogant to Quistis, who thought absently if it was not the girl's hips that were making the sword at her hip swing –as if to signal that she was a force enough without it- but the arrogance itself.

Such arrogance was painfully familiar for the Instructor but she tried to keep her mind off of that man; instead on the girl who reminded her of him so.

One Grat noticed her before the other one and charged. Although she was trying to ignore it Joselyn couldn't help but wonder why the other Grat which was just as close to her so oblivious? But that was no matter since she had the attention of the other one.

Perhaps she could kill three –or perhaps four- birds with one stone she thought.

Joselyn extended one arm, her palm facing the waddling plant before her. She wanted badly to allow herself to be distracted by the yellow glow drifting from her in slivers like feathers from a bird in a soft wind. But instead she steadied her mind and searched her mind for three of her level one fire spells.

When a SeeD or cadet or anyone who used drawn magic for that matter prepared a spell there was always that moment when they searched for it. They would feel their eyes roll into the back of their head even though they didn't actually do that. They would see a black expanse where the spells were lights like stars of many colors for every spell had a different color. Joselyn was of course very organized with her magic and therefore kept her first level fire spells in front of everything else. She had her spells, and like every time before when she cast a spell she was briefly concerned the monster was already too close but had proven to her self once again that although the time spent searching for a spell seemed long, it never lasted more than a second.

"Explosion," she muttered to herself more than to anybody else, even her enemy.

Joselyn activated the three spells simultaneously in the same spot on the Grats so called stomach as if they were only one spell. Like any fire spell it was sudden, the effect did not last but nonetheless left its mark.

But unlike normal fire spells this one was three times larger.

The Grats stomach burst forth with flame and plant miasma and what was left unburned was blown backward across the grass. On top of the loud sound the formerly oblivious Grat was brought back to alertness when its dead comrade's appendages slapped its body.

_Killed the first Grat; bird number one, check. Got the second ones attention; bird number two, check._ Joselyn looked over her shoulder to see her Instructors look and was unimpressed; the older woman was not adequately enthusiastic about her work although that was probably due to the other Grat still standing.

_That's good enough; bird number three, check._

Before she examined her other charging victim Joselyn gave herself a quick glance to Grave who's reaction she was happier with, he was still essentially in the same slothful position on the tree but his eyebrows were elevated and his mouth parted just enough for her to notice at her distance.

_Bird number four, check,_ she thought smugly and brought her attention back to her second victim.

Knowing that a Grat could never be a strategist Joselyn extended her casting arm palm facing the other Grat the same way she had with the first one before she even cast eyes on it. She whispered a quick word the other two humans didn't notice. They did however notice the splash of water that manifested under the thumb like appendages that were the Grats feet where it tripped and was captured in an abundance of more water that took shape and levitated approximately eight feet above the grass.

At this point a lone water spell would only splash against the ground with all the force of a pressured hose. But Joselyn's Special Skill permitted more creativity than that.

While the Grat was still suspended in the air a spark of energy developed not ten feet from the creature, and then another on the other side. At once the pair of Thunder spells crashed into the Grat and its prison and it writhed and squealed. Its appendages and the stem that must have been its neck twisted and turned in directions that surprised even Grave –the one student/SeeD who had memorized nearly all of B-Gardens library of anatomy diagrams- its inhuman cry created a stream of bubbles that shot briefly through the Water spell then popped on the surface with the electricity.

It was after the electricity subsided when Joselyn saw fit to crash the poor creature into the ground. It splattered and fell apart just as the magical water it had been imprisoned in did and much to Joselyn's luck none of it found its way on her clothes.

Joselyn saw the green and the gold from the aura spell disperse from her body when Quistis' Dispel struck her. She still kept her pride and pleasure displayed on her face and her stance although she could not help but feel disappointed that the spell was taken away already. She knew just by feeling the spell that it was superfluous, it was clearly meant only for emergencies but nonetheless the power to release a power that one could only due under other circumstances like exhaustion was an empowering feeling.

Joselyn forced herself to only smile and approach the others rather than continue thinking about the spell. She knew that she could be reckless sometimes –in fact she could think of more than one occasion she'd rather not think of- but she was nonetheless a smart girl, and she knew avarice when she felt it.

_Just quell that particular desire for the time being,_ Joselyn she thought, and then she was slightly annoyed with her self for saying her own name to herself within her own thoughts.

Quistis had apparently swiped a pen and a pad of paper from some random inter dimensional pocket in reality because Joselyn couldn't remember her carrying anything when she had walked in to the Training Center with them.

"What is it you just did and what do you call it?" Quistis spoke quickly and much to Joselyn's delight she was doing a poor job of hiding how impressed she was.

"Well," she began on a note of pride that was decidedly unnecessary since Grave didn't look amused by it anymore, and like a teachers loyal student she toned it down. "I can take up to three spell that I have junctioned and I cast them simultaneously in whatever way I can think of," she finished sounding a bit doubtful which didn't go unnoticed by the other two people and neither did it go announced.

Quistis scribbled the brief report for a moment and startled Joselyn when she stopped suddenly and looked up to her "And you call it?" Quistis prodded.

"Um," she hesitated a moment then hesitated some more under Quistis' waiting stare, "Mix," she said quickly, then felt embarrassingly relieved when Quistis relaxed her stare back to the pad of paper.

Quistis struck a period with finality on the paper and brought her attention to Grave. Joselyn followed suit and allowed herself a measure of the girlish reverie she had suppressed a minute ago to well up.

**The Three Senses Of Blood**

I think I'll make waffles tomorrow morning, haven't made waffles for months. Maybe I'll put blueberries in them, or pecans since Joselyn seems to like pecans…

I don't really want to think about what I'm about to do. Mostly because this genetic abnormality of mine is disconcerting, empowering though it may be. I don't want to think about the way it makes me feel and the way my face changes when I smell the blood. But I'm letting myself get away with avoiding this little subject because there isn't much thought involved to begin with. I decide how I fight as I'm doing it, I don't like to plan things unless if I'm ordered too.

But try as I might I find myself reflecting on the two experiences I had with this before.

The first time was when I sparred with Joselyn almost a month ago –if one could rightfully call that sparring when I was admittedly out for her blood- she's a surprising girl, everyday I'm surprised by every smile she shows me and every little courtesy she offers.

Before I hid in the bushes that day I found a smear of blood on a stone, it was dripping onto the grass and each little sound of the blood hitting the red puddle did something to me. I was lulled by the sound and the motions, and those two things made me wonder, it made me wonder what other qualities it had.

Looking back on this I can only think that was stupid. I've bled before then and I know perfectly well how it smells and how it feels… and how it tastes. But in that moment that knowledge was absent for some reason. It was as if I was an entity unfamiliar with the sensation, the smell and the taste of blood, which was why I leaned down and smelled it.

And at once my mouth and my teeth grew and I grinned against my will. In that moment however my will was irrelevant, it even seemed irrelevant to me. It was forgotten the same way my memory of the three other senses of blood had been.

And it felt so _good_.

It was only a moment after that happened when I heard Joselyn walking around the corner. Needless to say she noticed me the moment I hid in the bush, so in that moment where I had already been noticed I decided to just jump out.

Of course I regret it now. Joselyn is a good friend… a gorgeous friend. It's strange and unreasonable I think, how back then I had no trouble putting two deep gouges in her back –which by all means should have disabled her legs but thankfully I had narrowly missed her spinal cord- and now I'm afraid to touch her unless if I'm waking her up.

The second time was on our field exam about ten days ago. That time I was secretly worried because it wasn't just my mouth that changed, my eyes grew that time as well. The sensation wasn't painful like one might think it would be, rather it was a feeling of stretching in my familiar flesh, and new growth where there was no flesh to begin with.

And yet again I just went with it. I took advantage of how enhanced I felt and I paid no attention or question to why this was happening or what kind of affect it could have on me in the future.

Which is why I asked Quistis to test my DNA, Joselyn knows and she isn't pretending that she's unhappy about it which I'm only half grateful for. I scheduled an appointment with Quistis in the infirmary this evening. She said that the test results would be in by then and she hasn't yet said anything to the contrary so that must mean that she pulled through.

I know that we may find nothing interesting. But I think it's more likely that we'll find something that goes over our heads. There will be a dent in my DNA or a little mutant or something. Or perhaps I am where those gremlins that Joselyn tells me the mechanic Dintch complains about all the time come from. With all of the strangeness in this world I wouldn't put it past me.

My reverie evaporates and my heart starts beating unhealthily quick when Joselyn gets my attention by leaning her face over mine. She's smiling for me predictably, I'm glad for that.

"Quistis wants to know what you're going to fight," she informs me and to my chagrin leans away.

I sit up and hop off of my perch. Quistis is looking at me expectantly with that teachers 'I'm waiting' look she gives all of her students. I can only smirk a little bit when I see it though, I know that Quistis is not a particularly demanding person, she's just faking it. But I will have to humor her won't I?

"I need a T-Rexuar," I say trying to hide the tone of a young person ready to take on something they aren't quite ready for but it escapes anyway.

Quistis's look softens and I can only assume that Joselyn is just looking at me like I lost some of my IQ points. I know they don't want me to do this alone but what I want to do requires a skeleton and Grats don't have those so that just leaves me the one option–unless of course if Tucker would be willing to donate his body but I doubt that he'd do that for me.

"Are you sure about this Grave? Sure it will look more impressive but you don't need to do it just for that." Quistis is trying to talk me out of it; she's never been very good at doing that with me.

"I'll be fine," I assure her and this time I don't miss the look that Joselyn gives me.

She's afraid of me when I do this, I know she is.

I wish she wasn't.

But who am I to ask the human to not be afraid of Balambs Demon?

I can't say that I'm entirely insulted by the nickname the students gave me. Although I already have a nickname the notion of having a second one sounds pretty redundant to me. But I secretly enjoy it. If not only for the morbid kind of respect it offers from those other students, but because it sounds kind of cool.

Okay fine, so I think it sounds really cool. But there is no way I'm going to admit that to my tormentors.

"If you insist Grave," Quistis shakes her head and leads the way to where the cages are kept.

I almost laughed at Joselyn when she said the T-Rexuars roamed free in the Training Center. That was true once upon a time, and I was around when things were that way. But about two years ago The Headmaster decided the casualty rate for cadets and SeeDs was still too high even after the hiring of the PesticidE's and after SeeD Fujin Saeta began her work patrolling the Training Center. It was decided that T-Rexuars were to be caged and fought only under supervision.

I myself wouldn't be worried if the change had never been made, but then again that may be thanks in part to spite of my fellow insulting cadets. Although they aren't my fellow cadets anymore… and they haven't been insulting me as of late…

I'm pulled out of my reverie when I almost fall over like I'd tripped on something. I follow the grip on my shoulder to see Joselyn looking at me looking annoyed. Apparently I almost ran into our former Instructor, whoops. I hope she takes that as the accident it is.

Joselyn lets her hand slide off of me when I regain my equilibrium and I want to think she was letting her hand slide against my arm on purpose -but for once the angel on my shoulder has both hands free, and for the sake of compensation I think I will take his advice today and pretend that Joselyn isn't the lecherous girl I want her to be.

I take a deep breath and bring my attention to the monster in front of me. He would have had my attention anyway however, for his breath is potent and equally humid on my face. His eyes are disproportionately small for a creature of its size; they're so beady in fact that I think they're no larger than that of a human.

In the mesh fence across from the path to the secret area there is a door. It is part of the installment made to the Training Center two years ago. Quistis flips open the metal cover of a keypad built into the bar on one side of the door, the metal cover itself is about as well hidden as the door to the stairs in the Training Center hallway that Joselyn showed me a week ago. I almost want to say something about that but with both women present I don't feel that I should say anything about it.

Rules were made to be broken after all.

Quistis types in the number code and stands much stiller than Joselyn and I manage when a hiss of air escapes and the door swings open on its own. She leads us into the room and switches the lights on without losing a step. The lights flash on in turn like dominos falling against each other, they flash the hesitant flash that florescent lights always do before lighting up completely, and not for the first time I wonder if Joselyn is noticing that too.

I pay attention to Quistis when she stops this time and Joselyn and I stop as well. I take a glance of my opponent. This only happens for a moment, and it's only a small part of me but it does a wonderful job of catching my attention, for a brief moment I regret this. Because although Quistis is my friend she's my Instructor first regardless of my graduation status, she will not let me take this back until I have actually fought this thing.

Joselyn once told me that she saw my grin both times when I was under the influence of the blood –if 'under the influence' is indeed an accurate way to put it- she told me about my grin and how it was large and menacing. That's exactly what I see here with this creature. He's going through the trouble of pulling back its lips –if they could in fact be called lips- to show me its teeth and the hot pit that is its throat.

It looks about as arrogant as I do, just like me it's so sure that this will be a one sided fight.

"Are you ready Grave?" Quistis asks sternly though I notice her concern all the same.

Not all of that concern is brought from our friendship however. I heard about what happened to the Headmaster that night. I may only know a little bit about friendship but Quistis is clearly mourning, even through her façade that examines every little thing to keep her mind on other things.

Nobody escapes grief; grief is perhaps the cousin of death I think.

"Yes," I answer quietly.

"Come on Joselyn we need to give him some space," Quistis ignores the look Joselyn gives her and I do not ignore the one she gives me.

She keeps looking at me even as they make their way to the control room in the area farthest away from the cages. I mouth 'it'll be fine' and she only nods. I don't know if she could tell what I meant to say, perhaps I should ask her later.

She's probably remembering about that movie with the rippling glass of water again, what was that movie called?

I turn my attention back to the beady eyed beast. I take as long of strides as I can manage with legs as short as mine and never keep my eyes away from my opponents. I stop just before the boundary and swipe the packet out of my pocket. I squirm it in my fingers a little bit and try to look intimidating to my opponent but if I'm right I'm only making him hungrier.

"Are you ready to start yet Grave?" Quistis asks through a speaker over the area where she and Joselyn are hiding behind a strong sheet of plexi-glass, or at least I think its plexi-glass.

I crush the packet with one hand and give her the thumbs up signal with the other. I smell the blood in my palm and for the first time I am physically braced for the change in my body. For the first time my eyes are the first to grow, this time it is different than the other two times, it's happening instantly and my grin soon follows it in the same fashion.

The dinosaurs cage opens the same way the other door did and as it roars I feel something manifest and squirm inside the skin in my face. I keep my breathing even and slip my hands through the loops on the gripping end of my crowbars. The sensation like the other times is not pain but the feelings of splitting and invasion and breaking inside inner walls that must come with pain but never has the opportunity to be noticed.

I don't have time to experience or even think about this new change with the blood influence. The T-Rexuar charges me and leans forward so that its teeth brush against the soil, its toothy jaws are agape and it looks set on moving in the one direction.

Perfect.

With my now exaggerated stamina and fortitude I rush the T-Rexuar in the same way it is rushing me. I can see Quistis and Joselyn's faces now, they're either afraid that I'll get hurt or they're shocked that I'm being so fucking stupid.

Joselyn probably thinks that I'm just being stupid, although I hope she's a little bit afraid too.

Once the T-Rexuar thinks it has me I jump onto its nose. It reflexively flips its head up like a dog doing a trick to earn its treat. I fall now, my feet brush the dinosaurs scalp as it roars for me to drop into its mouth as it desired and I land feet first behind the back of its neck.

My balance falters and for too long –too long for a life or death fight against a pre-historic carnivore can be- I'm caught off guard and I worry for my life before I gain my balance on the monsters back.

The T-Rexuar continues to try throwing me off of its back but I'm in no danger of falling off now. I raise both of my weapons of my head and in the same motion I swing them deep into the T-Rexuars neck, at the base. It lets out a cry that all things considered would have done a better job of throwing me off had I not latched myself to the creature's skeleton.

I pull as hard as Salamander and the blood molecules permit me to and sooner than I had expected I see the first spinal column. I relax for a moment but I see the column sinking back into its home and I pull again. The dinosaurs back for my luck isn't slippery and I pull even harder than before and I take as great strides as I can down its back as I do it. Eventually I see a fair portion of the spine and just as I had hoped just beyond the spine in my vision I can see the spinal cord. My enemy is only struggling for itself at this point, it might not remember I'm here.

The spinal cord final breaks with the wettest sound one could imagine from a things flesh. Upon hearing the desired sound I dislodge my weapons from the creature and leap the way it isn't falling.

The T-Rexuar and I land at the same time. Beyond the dust clouds that the great beast created and all of the sounds it made before I hear the sound of a door opening and the voices of the women in my life yelling my name to know that I'm safe.

_**EG**_

Joselyn had rushed out of the door before it could open entirely and even before Quistis could finish screaming at her to get back inside the safe room. The Instructor didn't understand, now was not the time to follow orders. When your friend is in danger you _do not_ hesitate to defy orders. Joselyn rounded the dust cloud and tried to ignore the humid stench escaping from the mouth of the fallen dinosaur.

She stopped in front of the dust that had not yet cleared and backed away only when she started to cough. She swiped at the air pointlessly to try and keep the dust at bay but after another strong coughing fit she gave up and backed away from the dust cloud.

Joselyn ignored Quistis like a professional when she caught up to her and after a good long minute of the silent treatment Quistis gave up accordingly and watched the dust recede with the younger girl.

Patience paid off after another minute of waiting and both women were relieved to see their one personal link standing on his own two feet, and with a grin on his face at that they noted individually.

Quistis smiled at that thinking that Grave was only feeling arrogant because he felled a

T-Rexuar on his own but Joselyn was half blanching as she sometimes did when she saw Grave in a mood he was uncomfortable in and this would no doubt be one of those moods.

To Joselyn's surprise Grave was actually approaching them. He was not covered in as much dust as Joselyn was hoping he would be however, so Quistis would see him, and although Joselyn was not fond of Quistis she knew that Grave didn't want her to fear him too.

Joselyn winced when Quistis finally let out her bark of alarm. And she didn't miss it when Grave winced as well. Graves unnaturally large eyes were downcast after he heard that and only Joselyn could notice that. Quistis could not see past the monstrous grin that was sickeningly similar to the one of the fallen animal beside them.

Joselyn turned a scornful look to Quistis who was –so the way Joselyn had done to Quistis in the past- ignoring Joselyn for her unreadable feeling about Graves new appearance.

So Quistis had apparently never seen Grave this way, things just kept getting better and better didn't they?

Grave forced himself to look at Joselyn who felt his stare instantly for it bored larger than a normal stare into ones soul. She did her best for him to look considerate but it was no doubt worth nothing to him. He was the way he was, and that was what bothered him, and not being him she could do nothing to help that.

"So this is why you wanted me to run tests," Quistis interrupted their connecting glances unknowingly and continued in the same fashion to not notice how displeased with her Joselyn looked.

"Yes," Grave answered, speaking for the first time in such a condition.

He was surprised just as much as the women that his voice had not changed with his face.

With her mind on Graves face suddenly, Joselyn approached him and squinted to make sure that she was seeing straight. Grave surprised her -though neither cared enough to call attention to it- by doing nothing to stop her. Joselyn was only a few feet away from him when she stopped when her suspicion was confirmed. In a manner of girlish worry she placed her fingers against her lips and hooded her eyes sadly.

She saw under Graves white skin a pattern of black veins that could not be veins. For their pattern was too artistic, and rather than covering his entire body and looping into one another each line traveled in different directions and came to a point on the outside of his face. Each line formed a pattern but only in correspondence with the other lines; all things considered –aside from the exaggerated eyes and grin- his face looked more like a piece of artwork than before…

… _This little crush is becoming a bit too strong,_ Joselyn thought to her self.

"Well your footage has been taken so we should leave," Quistis said and headed out before her former students could follow her.

It occurred to Joselyn at that moment not that she disliked the Instructor more than ever, but that she had been caught up in reverie while surrounded by a group of caged but still loud and smelly dinosaurs.

Grave brushed past Joselyn while she thought absently about the livestock. They each passed Quistis who had stopped just outside of the door after rushing out, and was now wearing a face that looked overly apologetic, even for her.

"Grave?" asked Quistis sounding so apologetic she was suspicious to Joselyn's ears.

But then again Quistis was always somehow suspicious of Joselyn on some level so that wasn't saying very much.

"Yes?" Grave answered sounding less harsh than the women had expected him to sound.

"I'm sorry; I just didn't know to expect that."

"It's fine." Grave said quickly, which made Quistis' face contort more.

"I'll have the test results finished by tonight, I'll see you then," she said then locked the door and made her move to rush out of the Training Center.

"Joselyn's coming too," Grave interrupted, taking a temporary and somewhat unfair advantage of his facial expression to sway Quistis.

Quistis looked to both of them and agreed silently that there was no room or time for argument. She only nodded to Grave and went on her way, possibly to have a very hot shower with lots and lots of soap.

Joselyn waved thoughts of Quistis away. The woman was nothing but trouble as far as she was concerned. She would not admit that it was jealousy for a relationship with Grave that was much longer and by all accounts might have been considered stronger than the one she had with him.

Joselyn noticed after the bothersome Instructor had departed Grave was nowhere in sight. Her concern was only brief however because she spotted him leaning over the balcony of the currently vacant secret area.

Although she wanted to jog to him Joselyn forced herself to walk. Her steps sounded flat metallic sounds on the metal bridge like an aluminum sheet meant to mimic thunder, but it was softer. And it did a wonderful job of giving herself away. Though it would probably not matter anyway, he seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to her presence.

Joselyn leaned over the balcony close to Grave who said and did nothing. He looked over the view of the ocean while looking –possibly to his dislike- like a manic gargoyle made from flesh and bone and malice.

Joselyn had begun priding herself on reading Grave in the past month that she'd known him. And based on how others behaved around him she thought that she could see past his face. She was sure that she could see past it even now. Although his jaw was set and his large gaze was unwavering she was sure she saw the same humanity that she saw in him everyday.

"What are you going to do?" she asked quietly, noting absently that his ears hadn't grown and not quite knowing why.

"I'm just going to wait, I'm sure it'll wear off eventually," he said just as quietly, and Joselyn noted interestedly that although his lips were pulled back over his teeth they would come together so he could pronounce sound values requiring his lips.

He was a very interesting creature, Grave.

"You can do it if you want to, I don't mind," she implied but Grave did little more than glance at her.

Absently, when he did, Joselyn for the first time noticed that within his right eyebrow he had a single brown hair like the highlights on his head.

Joselyn frowned. She wasn't going to say it but she actually wanted him to do it this time. She knew what was coming now, and quite frankly she thought that she'd like it. Grave was looking on to the boring ocean again so Joselyn decided that words weren't going to work too terribly well.

She nudged her way a few inches closer to Grave who cringed slightly. _He probably thinks I'm going to tickle him again_, she thought and snickered a bit. Grave seemed to ignore that and continued looking forward. Joselyn bumped her butt against his hip. This earned her nothing but a look of… something entirely unreadable due to his facial transformation, but she was sure that it was only annoyance, hopefully playful annoyance.

_**EG**_

Joselyn bumps my hip again and I really can't say it bothers me. Lately I relish whatever contact she has with me. Needless to say the shoulder rubs are heaven. But even something like bumping her butt against me has its own weird appeal to it.

I look at her yet again and I'm amazed that she isn't scared again. I don't even know if she noticed the first time, but the second time she surely did. She wasn't afraid enough to run away but she didn't look pleased to see me then. Back in the room with the dinosaurs though she just looked disappointed, and she looks the same way now.

If I couldn't swear that I was mistaken I'd think that she _wants_me to do it. But that doesn't sound right at all. Why would she want these teeth so close to her neck? Why does she look so sad and inviting?

And for heavens sake why is she bumping her butt against me? I thought that was one of the major 'Danger Zones'.

"I really don't mind," she tells me quietly and brushes some of her bangs from her face so that I can see her darker eye.

I've asked myself enough questions about this. The beautiful girl is telling me that I can smell her neck if I want too and I'm turning her down. I think she doesn't actually want me to do what she's inviting me to do. And as much as I'd like to believe or understand any of that it's hard for someone to turn something like this down when it simply falls into their lap.

Screw it.

I move closer to her and she moves her other arm out of my way. I tilt my head up and lean in to her neck then she winces when I accidentally brush one tooth against her skin. She recoils but only a little bit, not enough to be out of aromas reach. I suck in the metaphorical sugar and snowflakes with all of the greed that I can muster and I savor the feeling of it rushing in my body and eradicating the change in me.

I feel my eyes and my mouth contracting the way things do when they are cold and they shrink back to their normal shapes and sizes. The faint feeling of extra strength in the rest of my body that is still unchanged vanishes just as I notice that it was there. And the addition, the feeling of new vein branches under my skin but away from my muscle seems to break and shrink into nothingness like an ice cube in warm water.

I move away slowly, trying to take in more of her smell than I actually need. I back away from her so as to avoid anymore awkwardness. And to keep my self from grabbing her tits and kissing her neck until she kisses me back or throws me over this balcony and onto the destructive ring under the water that keeps this academy afloat.

Hyne I need to change the subject and now**.**

"So what did it look like?" I ask, wishing quickly that I had elaborated.

"Your face you mean?" she asks sounding certain, and disappointed again for some reason.

"Yeah, I felt something new," I say wishing I had nodded instead

I don't actually want to talk, but I don't want to make a fool of myself with action and spontaneous groping so that leaves me to make a fool of myself by talking.

"They looked like black veins, but only on your face," she says quietly, and then stops clearly at a loss for what else to say about it.

We spend fifteen more minutes in the secret area before we seek out Cody together. To dilute the awkwardness and of course to just spend time with our friend, but mostly we just want to dilute the awkwardness.

I don't want to think about this, it's too uncertain to plan or daydream about.

**The Demon In The Boy**

"I need a clean up crew in the Training Centers T-Rexuar kennel now please," Quistis said sounding polite but not doing well to hide the distraction in her voice.

"We'll get right on it Instructor Trepe," said the janitor on the other end of the line.

The janitor hung up immediately and Quistis was too distracted to notice until her cell phone startled her with the 'Nobody's on the other line you fool' signal. She flipped the item closed and slid it back into her pocket before looking back at the sample under her eyes.

It was good of Grave –and suspicious in fact- to have her do a blood test for him concerning the condition of his she had witnessed earlier in the day. Although it was true that a mandatory blood test was taken when one was enrolled in the Gardens she never would have discovered this looking at his old files.

This was a recent genetic condition she was looking at.

Quistis was no scientist but she was rather skilled as a medic and a nurse –and perhaps a full fledged doctor in the future- and Dr. Kadowaki had been good enough to her to teach her about reading the cells in tissue samples, something that was only conducted when something suspicious or curious was happening with a student or any other resident of the Garden. Grave, Quistis thought, had always been such a resident but now he was more than that.

When a student finally develops their Special Skill on the three year mark –or however long it takes for whatever given student- usually something about their actual body changes. Not the soul, never the soul. The soul was another thing altogether and therefore totally impartial to magic and its siblings. But the genes changed, the cells behaved differently. In fact it was a wonder nobody ever died from acquiring a Special Skill, one would think that such a drastic change to the body's ingredients would be fatal or at least unpleasant.

But it never had, never in any of the records of B-Garden had she ever come across death by magical evolution.

Grave's change was particularly drastic, but it was impossible to notice under the normal circumstances of a Special Skill. Normally the change is obvious under a microscope, even when the subject is in a stable and normal condition. There would be a slight change in coloring or even shape in the cells. Any change really could be an indication that the magic in ones body has been drawn out by their Guardian Force.

However, if the subject was tested when in a condition of exhaustion –which in the case of readiness for a Special Skill would be the equivalent of being badly injured- the change is dramatic, but still not enough to change the appearance of the subjects body. Always the change was strictly manifest through magic enhancement of some kind like Rinoas, or energy coming from the body to be applied to physical combat like Squalls or Zells. The energy always found its way through or out of the body to be used as something of a weapon or momentary enhancement.

Graves case however was entirely different.

First of all, under inspection of his cells in a stable condition there was no noticeable change. There wasn't even an indication as to why he looked so… un-lively, if that was in fact a good way of putting it. His cells looked perfectly normal.

Since she had never taken a sample from him while exhausted she would have just told him that he didn't have a Special Skill at all and would just have to make due without one. But as usual Grave surprised her by knowing the answer to the problem; he had always had a knack for that.

He told her to try adding a drop of some other kind of blood. He said that it didn't matter if it was human or not, and that the type of blood used would matter just as much. The moment before finishing her phone call with the janitor was when she had done as he instructed and looked at the results, and they were outrageous.

Once she added the drop of foreign blood Graves blood reacted instantly. Upon coming in contact with one another Graves blood became unrecognizable not only as his owncells but as cells in general. The colors shifted into blues and grays and the disc like shapes became spiny balls resembling urchins. And covering them all were what looked like black veins that were just like the ones she saw on Graves face that afternoon.

What was interesting was that the foreign cells of course died on their own time, but after this happened Graves cells went back to normal. Albeit slowly, and the process looked like writhing and cringing which could not possibly mean a pleasant changing back for Grave. More interesting than that was that this activity implied that there was parasitic activity, but -again Grave surprised her- this was obviously not the case because Graves own cells did nothing to feed on the foreign cells. They simply changed when near the foreign ones, and changed back when the foreign cells expired.

Even more interesting than all of this was how Quistis could ignore her mourning so easily when put to work.

Quistis hoped that this was not a bad omen for Grave.

"We're here," sounded the voice of the very person she'd been studying for the past half hour.

"Good, because I have news for you," said Quistis after she moved from the microscope and pulled a stool from behind her to sit.

The younger humans in the dark room –who were dressed so as to look like they had been sleeping before they arrived- shuffled around the room for chairs of their own, after finding none they opted for the examination table and sat together.

Before Quistis spoke she couldn't help but notice how disinterested they looked. They must have been tired. In fact they were looking more and more like they had been sleeping before they left.

"Well Grave," Quistis took off her glasses and began wiping debris from the lenses with the bottom of her vest. "The results were very alarming," she began, and saw that Joselyn for some reason looked more concerned than Grave himself did.

Quistis placed her glasses back on.

"Apparently that," she gesture with her hands and pursed her lips for quick thought. "'Transformation you underwent this afternoon is your Special Skill," Graves eyebrows raised, it was hard to tell if this was replacing his concern or was temporarily wrapping it.

"Well," she went on while making a face, sounding like she was about to interrupt her self. "I suppose it doesn't qualify as a skill but it most certainly is special." The looks she received for that weren't friendly so she went on, albeit embarrassingly.

"You think you can give us the short version?" Grave asked surprisingly, although he did look very tired, and so did Joselyn –who probably also felt like a third wheel in all of this.

Although upon more in depth consideration this ordeal was more a unicycle than a two wheeled unit, considering that this was only about Grave. So Quistis being a second wheel felt equally superfluous.

But then again Grave had agreed to include them, so perhaps neither should feel so superfluous.

"Certainly, you of course know that Special Skills are triggered by exhaustion, serious injury and the like right?" they nodded sleepily in response "Well you Grave, have the same magical reaction when blood particles are introduced to your system. On top of that your body doesn't release the energy," at this Grave raised an eyebrow, and if Joselyn did the same then Quistis didn't notice.

"You know that the energy a person produces for a Special Skill is always released in some way, like when Joselyn mixes her spells she's using energy from her own body to create the linking and the combining." Grave nodded again and Joselyn's head elevated a measure upon hearing herself mentioned. "You however hold in the energy and your body create this symbiosis and thus your body becomes different." Although she was delivering the information like one would a lecture, her former students were taking it as anything but –and not only because lectures were ignored by students, skilled, gifted or not.

If Quistis was not mistaken –and she wasn't- then she would say that Grave looked relieved. He might have been thinking before he arrived with Joselyn in the Infirmary that the news would be genuinely bad, like there was some evil spirit in him or some other sort of nonsense like that.

And although the truth about his condition was unusual –more than unusual actually, it was in fact unique- there was nothing wrong that she could find. His cells did not damage or even change permanently after or during the transformation. He was just different.

Quistis hooded her eyes and smiled wisely, she liked that thought.

"You're perfectly fine Grave, you're just different," and with that Quistis cleaned up after herself and left her former students in the Infirmary alone, one left wondering even more about himself, and the other dismissing her for pretending to be a sage.

_**EG**_

Out in the tundra that was the Trabian plains nature was behaving as it always had. The ground and the mantle of snow it wore were mercifully flat for the walking organisms that strode in the cold land. A pair of adult teenage male Mesmerizes slashed and charged at one another in competition for the female watching nearby who judged them in their every move.

A distant avalanche sounded somewhere where civilization had either never explored or never cared to settle. Therefore only crushing more ice that lay at the base of the rocks, and disturbing the cold powder that mother Gaia perhaps powdered her nose with.

A human, cold and miraculously prepared for encounters but not the cold was stumbling through the snow with steps one would find embarrassing if in public. But the human was most certainly not in public, and if one were to be technical the human was not headed to a place that could be called public, although it could be called a community.

It could also be called a place to get warm and contact somebody and more than anything that was what was needed. A warm place to sleep, a healthy meal to consume, sentient bipeds to speak with and perhaps a phone of some sort, every little thing sounded like heaven to the human and the very thought of these things warmed her heart and brought hope in her reasonable logical brain.

"WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!?"

Fujin Saeta was anything but happy. She was thankful she was armed –and dressed for that matter- and she was glad she had not lost limbs, or worse undergoing and anatomical scramble replacing her arms to her kneecaps or something else so absurd.

She was very angry however, because she had been transported to Trabia for no realistic reason she could think of. Contrary to the terrible walk she was forced to have the actual transportation had been pleasant, startling, but pleasant. It had happened to so fast that she had not had the time to react to the fear her brain had registered.

That reaction had occurred instead after the soft popping against her skin and in her brain. It had happened after the golden light and the soft un-intrusive warmth had glowed over her, alien-like and offering no promises that there would be no harm done.

And there hadn't been any harm done. Only an abrupt relocation and some static electricity in her hair that she had flattened back into place without even looking at herself –not that she could, with a lack of water and mirrors in the area, she had only assumed that her hair was frizzy.

After a long and infuriating trek Fujin was greeted with the sight of the Shumi Dome. Although it was not a particularly looming figure in the area nothing was but the mountains. And the heating system inside kept the roof from collecting snow and ice so the brown and glass dome was easily visible for travelers.

Obviously being in Trabia, and being without any mode of transportation. Fujin needed a place to go to collect herself. Originally the rule for a confused or distressed SeeD was to report to the nearest Garden. But for the last couple of years all three Gardens were airborne so T-Garden was out of the question. And since there were no villages or towns in Trabia that SeeD knew of that left the Shumi Village as her only option.

Fujin didn't know or care how long it took her to reach the dome –approximately forty five minutes- but she was never as relieved as when she reached the path and was warmed by the steam spouts on either side of the path. The cold that had collected in her clothes pushed itself against her when the steam hit her and she relished the hot moisture even more out of serene spite when the cold evaporated from her.

The doors slid open once she was before them and she didn't even bother to stop to wait for the doors to open. The doors closed just as fast once she was inside. Fujin looked to her left and not to her surprise she saw the same three Shumi's guarding the Ultima draw point. They looked stern and a bit proud, with that expression that would never strike humans like Fujin as fitting for the droopy looking bipeds.

Personally, Fujin had never felt comfortable around the Shumi's. She knew that others might think that being an unusual organism herself –an albino, a former mute, harshest hall monitor in the history of B-Garden, close friend of Seifer Almasy, it was quite the resume really- she would feel sympathetic and understanding, or perhaps even hold a kinship in her mind with the peaceful creatures.

The truth was Fujin thought they were very, very ugly and the fact that she would have to be near them sank her stomach noticeably –noticeably even to onlookers.

Fujin ignored the Shumi guards and marched straight into the elevator holding her torso and tucking her chin close to her collar bone, it was not a position that she would be caught in when in public but right now she was too confused and pissed to really care about how she looked.

"Please have a seat," sounded the speaker in the corner of the ceiling with a clean and smooth –smooth like a foreskin- sounding Shumi's voice.

Fujin ignored it and plopped down onto one of the cushioned seats and waited expectantly for the elevator to move. It wasn't until she began to descend did she noticed that she was covered in moisture droplets. Crap, they'd probably offer her a towel or worse, a bath.

Being naked near the Shumi's…

Fujin shivered for reasons different from frost and tried to remove the moisture by shaking like a dog. Needless to say the result wasn't what she was hoping for but perhaps it would set her fear aside.

Fujin watched the window to distract her self from worry and shudder-some thoughts. The cracks in the soil, and the way it changed shade and color as the elevator descended further and further to the center of the planet. Disappointingly the fossils she sighted were minimal, but the ones she did see made up for the lack of quantity with quality. Each one was not severed for the sake of the elevator, and not one was a bone she recognized.

Although exotic looking herself Fujin did enjoy her exotic sights. But predictably, being the grand opposite of vanity Fujins reflection did not have a place on her roster of exotic sights.

The pleasant sights vanished above the elevator and Fujin sighed when she turned her head away. Pity that the sights were so brief but the droopy midgets were so numerous. The elevator slowed to a crawl and Fujin soon comically checked her wrist for the watch she had forgotten to wear just before the doors opened.

"Please exit the elevator," said the same voice that was somehow not mechanical sounding at all.

Warmer now Fujin took her normal imperious stance and marched out of the elevator, she prepared to feign delight as best as she could. She traveled warily down the stairs and through the dirt path. She scanned the area unhappily for any of the residents whom she would inevitably end up conversing with. An onlooker would think that Fujin looked uncharacteristically wary or even scared, and the truth was that she was.

Only a little bit though. Even Fujin herself understood that her concern was born from bias instead of any actual threat. But it was present nonetheless and some morbid spark of pride of Fujins kept her from doing something about it.

Although Fujin was not fond of the inhabitants, she was quite taken by the scenery. Beyond her unfair prejudice for the humanoids she did openly admit that they definitely knew how to live, and where to live at that.

And in respect to her admiration of their dwelling she was also in admiration for its location and how they managed to create and upkeep it. The soil was healthy, the grass was tall and lush, the water was pure and even other sentient organisms they had brought with them easily found places to dwell.

The Shumi village was an admirable work of terra-forming indeed. Even Fujin was admirable enough to acknowledge that.

She stubbornly ignored the greetings from the residents and instead marched her way as quickly as she could to the Village Elders residence. She stopped though when she arrived at the path for the house that was only somewhat different from those around it. She had forgotten one more thing about this place that she did indeed like. And those were the Moomba's. The one that always stood guarding –or whatever it was it did- the Village Elders house was now napping, it was curled up the same way a cat would be with it tongue hanging out humorously. It sounded like it was purring through its open mouth.

Moomba's to Fujin were perhaps the most charming creatures besides Raijin and Seifer that she had ever had the pleasure of accompanying. Of course the charm of Raijin and Seifer was something it seemed only she saw, it was as if she possessed night vision goggles -or in this case charm vision goggles- which nobody else could wear.

Fujin chuckled and woke the cute little guy up. Raijn certainly wouldn't mind but she knew that Seifer would be insulted if he found out that a Moomba of all things was reminding her of him. The lion-ish bi/quadruped lifted its head and only looked at Fujin for a few moments that in its perspective probably lasted longer than they actually did in reality, and it yawned broadly then promptly hid its face in its enormous paws and went back to sleep. It still purred but it was a softer sound now. It was funny how all felines tended to make themselves look more imperious after something embarrassing, even if they didn't notice they had been doing it before.

Fujin smiled at the creature and allowed herself a few more moments of feline reverie before she forced herself in the house. As she was about to knock on the door one of the creatures opened the door for her and greeted her with what might have been a smile.

"Greetings!" this ones voice was nothing like the one from the elevator and that only lost its already nonexistent brownie points with Fujin.

This voice was higher and on the verge of squeaking, it reminded Fujin of what bread dough might sound like against a tightly inflated balloon, although that imagery was definitely in part to the flesh of the Shumi's.

She decided to set personal chagrins aside for the time being and remembered her business. She needed to contact B-Garden and report. She would call Raijin, he'd be able to report in person for her and of course he would be happy to hear from her. In away her transportation was a good thing actually, she was supposed to go on a mission, and this was probably one of the areas she was meant to visit anyway.

No time to fuck around thought Fujin, is definitely a good motto, apparently reality itself had agreed with her.

"SEED," she said, and pointed a thumb towards herself "NEED. CONTACT. GARDEN." At this the Shumi quirked a bit of eyebrow flesh at her tone, but he ended up smiling more at the mention of SeeD and Garden.

"Of course," it said politely and lead Fujin into the house.

Shortly after the Ultimecia event and after Laguna introduced himself to Squall as his father, all of this information was passed to the Shumi's. Because of Squall blood relation and Laguna's reunion with the Shumi's B-Garden had developed a special relationship with the Shumi Tribe. It was not the same kind of relationship they held with T-Garden or the distributors in the Esthar where B-Garden got most of its supplies though. It was really just a friendship.

In fact the only purpose of it was for situations like the one Fujin found herself in currently. How bloody convenient for her. She followed the waddling Shumi to the other side of the dwelling where the tall elder stood facing the fish tank built into his wall. His face although hard to read to Fujin –just like every other member of their race- looked distinctly depressed, or worried.

But as usual Fujin was not thinking about the personal thoughts or feelings of the Shumi's. Instead she absently thought if these people were so misguided that they simply chose the tallest to be the leader. Was he the 'Almighty Tallest' to them?

Fujin shook her head quickly and paid more attention to the other… people in the room.

"We have a visitor Elder one, a SeeD," said the subordinate happily, his expression unwavering even after the elder turned to his shorter companion with sad eyes; perhaps it was out of effort to cheer up the leader of the community.

Fujin snorted inaudibly at that thought.

The elder elevated his differently droopy eyes from the other Shumi to Fujin where they rested for an uncomfortably long time. He looked to Fujin like he was pleading over something before she had entered, and considered her more of a temporary escape or more likely a chore to be dealt with on the side of his primary concerns.

And of course Fujin knew that was what she was exactly. But she did not let that bother her.

"She needs to communicate with her headquarters my Elder," said the Shumi more quietly now, being as polite and respectful as one biped could muster.

"Very well," breathed the elder quietly. "You may leave now," he gestured to the shorter Shumi who bowed respectfully and waddled out of the small house once he was ordered to.

"Which Garden do you need to contact?" It was not like a Shumi to set formalities aside, this Elder was genuinely vexed by something.

Normally –and even Fujin knew this- when a Shumi was presented with a guest a special tea would be brewed and served in a small bowl, at a table one was meant to kneel in front of. Regardless of how much you liked any particular society, all SeeDs were to take etiquette courses for each known society. The Shumi's being fairly new to B-Garden, taught them their formalities and traditions after the Ultimecia incident.

After that of course even graduated SeeDs took the class and now whenever visiting them the tea and other such things were meant to be done between the Elder and the visitor. But for some reason Fujin was being spared. The elder was far too distracted to remember –or perhaps care for- his own customs.

It truly pained Fujin but she would have to ask the elder what the problem was. After all the Shumi's were the ones who donated most of the information that they had on the history of Guardian Forces. And a Guardian Force was the priority of Fujins mission. But for now she needed to contact B-Garden, at the moment that was more important.

"B-GARDEN." Fujin bellowed.

The elder nodded and slowly made his way to the unrecognizable device that must have been the phone and pushed a few buttons. It looked more like a speaker than anything else, of course with buttons and switches and even a few lights adorning it making it look more space-agey. Upon deeper thought Fujin decided it was no wonder that such a device would be the phone, they were after all many hundred meters under the surface of Gaia, and no cord would reach that far –especially since the building being contacted was constantly in motion.

Instead of announcing the device was ready the elder simply strode back to his original position by the window, or aquarium -or whatever it was- and continued his silence.

"_This is B-Garden over_" the machine sounded loudly enough to make Fujin jump; the elder however remained still as ever, he was probably used to the volume since he was the owner of the machine.

Fujin approached the phone and pressed the button which she hoped was the one to put her voice through to the other end of the connection.

"SEED SAETA, SERIAL NUMBER, 415 REPORTING" a distinct sound like surprise was heard from the other end and was followed by a sound of shuffling and Fujin raised and eyebrow.

"SeeD Saeta, Fujin?" the person holding the connection –Fujin found herself pretending it was Xu, even though it couldn't be her since the woman was swamped with work at all hours of every day.

"You were reported missing this morning, what is your location and condition?"

"SHUMI VILLAGE… ALIVE" she stated bluntly, hopefully that would be good enough because she was not in the mood to give detailed information about her condition or which of the Shumi's houses she was in.

"That's good news, um," there was a pause perhaps due to embarrassment. "Who exactly did you mean to call?"

"SEED TABARRO, RAIJIN, 416," answered Fujin and she was instantly met with the sound of cheesy music no doubt selected by B-Gardens own SeeD Tilmitt.

Fujin was just about to release the button and share a moment of disconnected, awkward silence with the elder when the loudest thing ever in the history of the Shumi village –Louder even than Laguna- blared through the speaker.

"FUUU!" had this occurred in a cartoon Fujin would have no doubt been knocked on her ass, as it was, she was honestly surprised it hadn't happened anyway.

This was enough even to make the elder turn to Fujin and raise some eyebrow flesh with an emotion she didn't want to interpret through that fleshy face.

Fujin directed her attention back to the phone device and pressed the button again.

"Hello Raijin," she said using her tone that fell somewhere between annoyance and affection, she cut him off before he could start using actual sentences.

"I'm in the Shumi Village, I'm fine," she said patiently.

"What the hell are you doing there? And why did you leave without telling me?" Fujin didn't like talking about it, but part of Raijin's unseen charm lay in his concern for her, it was actually kind of cute in a brotherly way.

"The short answer is I was on the balcony one moment, then I was surrounded by golden light and suddenly I was in Trabia," she explained, and was disappointed when she was met with a silence from Raijin's end.

"Suddenly? Fu you're talking about the SeeD Inauguration?" Fujin furrowed her brows, what was he getting at? And why couldn't he just spit it out?

"Yes," She said impatiently, without saying anything more.

"Fu that was last night, it couldn't have been sudden," and finally Fujin was worried.

Her hand slipped from the console and for a moment she was talking to Raijin.

Last night? To her it was a second but to the rest of the world it was what? Fifteen, maybe even sixteen hours or more? It had seemed to her like the afternoon when she was outside a few minutes ago. But then again she was in Trabia and the time zone was no doubt different there than it was in B-Garden… this was too much.

"Fu!"

Yet again Raijin startled Fujin out of inane reverie and Fujin pressed the button once more. She shook her head, this was ridiculous she thought, now was not the time to just stand around and be confused.

"What is it Raijin?" She asked once more impatient for whatever reason.

"I said that the same thing happened to Squall that night, but we haven't heard from him."

Fujin was quiet again, and for once in her life nothing passed through her brain for a few moments. Well… she thought, fuck.

Raijin seemed to be waiting for her to say something so she took that precious time to align her thoughts. First of all, she had seemingly been teleported from one location of the planet to a completely different one, and contrary to science fiction logic concerning teleportation it had not happened instantly. Secondly, her leader and former temporary adversary had undergone the same phenomena and had not yet the wits, the opportunity, or the equipment to contact the Garden like she had.

Fujin dreaded the thought but the nature of the golden light was alarmingly familiar, it sounded like some kind of time magic.

Time Compression.

No, that was impossible. The witch had been slain and that was what it took to end that spell. At least that was what she hoped, and she hoped more that this couldn't mean that the witch had not in fact been slain.

Fujin was suddenly reminded of the parts in the Hangar that Raijin was always saying Zell bitched about everyday. Was it Gremlins perhaps? No, gremlins –if in fact they existed, she would sooner suspect the witch- did not manifest teleporting golden light, and they most certainly did not have concerns for Zells jet parts. Unless of she was not considering everything, this ordeal was not looking at all hopeful in Fujins opinion.

"Fu, you still there?" Raijin asked more concerned than ever.

Fujin didn't want to share her theories with Raijin, and since she wasn't obligated too necessarily she decided she wouldn't do it. He was concerned enough with Squall missing it seemed so he didn't need to hear about any of this.

"Yes," was all she said, and she decided she would say little more before she hung up.

"Do you need me to get you with a Whelp? I can get it cleared."

"That won't be necessary Raijin, I'm supposed to look for a Guardian Force called Terra and I was probably going to end up here anyway," she was going to go on but she was interrupted, but this time not by Raijin.

"You are searching for Terra?" Fujin turned to the village elder that was facing her now and suddenly looked in better spirits.

"Yes," she said interestedly, this is interesting he thought, the mention of the Guardian Force brought him out of his depression quite quickly.

The Shumi took on a look of sentiment and Fujin inwardly sighed, if she was right then this would take a while, but it would probably be worth it in the end. She did hope that he could help her.

As it was she had no leads on Terra. B-Garden had little more than photos of cave paintings of Terra, and her history of blurry at best. Nothing was known of her location or her status of life. And this Shumi seemed to know something.

"What's going on?" voiced the speaker.

"Just listen Raijin," she said a little too harshly but didn't apologize for concern that she wouldn't get her information out of the elder.

The elder Shumi took his time to look sentimental yet more but look to Fujin just in time before she rudely told him to spit it out.

"I always feel so sad when family leaves after they visit, especially when it's her," he gave Fujin a moment to speak her self and when she didn't he continued. "She does not come often but when she does everyone is so happy to see her," this was getting nowhere Fujin thought, and yet the elder seemed to genuinely have information that she wanted, perhaps she only needed to pry.

"What does she come here for?" she asked cleverly, and very cleverly it seemed because the elder addressed her more poignantly then.

"Supplies, she takes care of orphaned children on the southernmost shore," he said like a proud father.

"Is there anything you can tell me about her?" Fujin asked politely and smiled with the same politeness when she saw the Shumi's smile grow in the way family smiles when they are asked about their child.

"You are looking for her because she is a Guardian Force?" he said assuredly and accusingly, but with the same softness and pride.

This was of course the Shumi way. They were quite the opinionated race but at the same time they were very peaceful and passive. Mostly instead of just saying what bothered them or doing something about their vexes, they simply meditated, and when they spoke of negatives they only implied them. They chose to speak their minds the polite way.

And Fujin would stick out her metaphorical 'defiance tongue' the polite way in retaliation. Although childish the concept was it was all she had, 'I'm on a mission and you aren't so there.' Fujin did feel somewhat pathetic thinking of it that way though.

"Yes," she said still feigning politeness.

The elder sighed in defeat. He must have felt like a father who had just lost his daughter to some van driving riff raff. What got to Fujin about this was that he was staying true to Shumi nature and doing nothing to stop Fujin. Which she realized was silly because it's ridiculous to expect _anything_ to go against its own nature.

"I can only hope that you do not imprison her," he stated sadly and shook his head whilst lowering it making his head look disturbingly mop like.

"Imprison her?" Fujin asked now with genuine curiosity, still pressing her finger to the button and still forgetting that Raijin was on the other end.

"That is what you do with them after all," now an obvious fume of anger had spouted from the elders round mouth.

The elder stared at her hardly and although she was not at all intimidated she could not bring herself to say anything. What exactly was he talking about? Imprison? Imprison who?

After much thought Fujin decided that he was talking about the children. He had mentioned an orphanage and the Shumi's of course knew very well that many of the world's orphans went to the SeeD program. The cable commercials they once had were admittedly disgusting now that Fujin looked back on them. A promise of education to the unfortunate was how it had been put. And the silliest part of it all was that this so called promise had been made to those who had nothing to do with these orphans. It was completely impersonal and unnecessary and Fujin for the life of her could never understand why that had been used.

Nostalgia aside Fujin disregarded the elder. She wasn't after the children and it was none of his business in any event. The looks they were giving each other agreed that their conversation was over.

"You can join me Raijin, just remember to bring some warm coats for us," she said not taking her eyes off of the elder.

"Alright Fu, I'll be right there," he said happily, diluting the atmosphere with something akin to anger and annoyance but nobody called attention to it.

"Meet me inside the main entrance."

"Alright Fu, over and out," there was a buzzing sound and Raijins voice stopped.

The elder turned back around to his window and began speaking only to himself.

"I do hope that family will continue to visit," he said quietly and Fujin heard him.

Fujin left for fear that she would hear sentimental ranting if she stayed any longer. She walked unnecessarily fast over the worn dirt path and rushed up the stairs to the elevator and rode back to the crust of the earth, only now regretting that she hadn't asked for a towel.

_You know what's funny? I've been finished with this chapter for six days now, heh. Also the first eight pages of part six are already written. Review me and be worshipped._


	6. Before The Mission

_Disclaimer and A/N: I don't own it. This chapter is dedicated to **Juusan Ikkiuchi** because she inspired part of this chapter. On an unrelated note, for those of you who like String Quartets you should check out it has String Tributes to popular artists. Even if you don't like the band you'll probably like the tribute._

_**UltimateSoceress**: Sorry that I'm confuzzling you, do you think you could elaborate on what is confuzzling exactly? That aside I'm glad that you started reading this, I'm always happy to have new reviewers. I'm especially glad that you like the violence and sarcasm because this story will be heavy with that sort of thing._

_**Juusan Ikkiuchi**: Happy to see your reviews as usual. I really hope that you like this chapter, the beginning in particular._

_**Ghost140**: Yay! I'm glad that I've attracted your attention. And lo and behold I'm on your favorites list, sweetness._

_**Jasmine 32**: I have another new reviewer! Score! You used the word compelling to describe my prose mmm, ahhh. You have a hell of a lot of favorites Jasmine, Christ. But I'm glad to be one of them. I'm glad that you like the original characters since this story would be like, over by now if not for them._

_**Wyvern Ryder**: Another new reviewer! You did only give me one review for five chapters but I suppose that is just your way. I accept that. I hope you become an avid reader._

_Well I know the words but I can't really speak them to you, and I hide all the pain that I've gained with my wisdom from you._

_And I'm eaten alive by what I hold inside, all the things that I live with I can't easily hide._

_And I'm left here with nothing, nothing to live for but you._

_It's not easy to hide all this damage inside; I'll carry you with me 'til I'm not alive._

_When you look at my face does it seem just as ugly to you? I can't seem to erase all the scars that I've lived with from you._

_I'm so sick of this place, this taste in my mouth, 'cause of you I can't figure out what I'm all about. And I'm left here with nothing, nothing to live for but you._

_And I'm eaten alive by what I hold inside, all the things that I live with I can't easily hide._

_And I'm left here with nothing, nothing to live for but you._

_Excess Baggage by Staind, don't own it._

**Part Six: The Mission Begins**

**Juusan Park**

It really is fascinating how inefficient the average wooing plan of the average –or in this case not so average- teenagers mind works. You might think to yourself, 'You know, I should ask this guy I like to romantically lie against this tree in the park with me when nobody else is around, that sounds damn spanky.' But what you won't think –or perhaps will think of once it's too late- will be 'Fuck, I didn't ask him if he wanted to _do_ anything by the tree, now he's going to think that I'm a tramp.'

Joselyn just so happened to be curled up in the cannonball position, sitting against a large tree root the equivalent of a short bench, thinking just those words, her boots and sword lying around her haphazardly. Normally though she would not worry about being considered a tramp. The opinions of others concerning her sexuality meant nothing to her. But Graves opinion –or better yet his curiosity or even his interest- mattered to her very much.

Her fears were of course absolutely frivolous. When she asked him to do this that was all she did. She asked him and he agreed, he looked at her expectantly like he didn't think that was all she could want, and then the subject was dropped shortly thereafter. She had made no implication of romance or fucking, and therefore that was not what he thought she meant he had thought.

Surely it had occurred to him a couple of times or more. It had to, and not just because he was a teenage boy rooming with a teenage girl. She had seen him looking at her when he thought she was focused on something else. She didn't miss the way his hands almost grasped her body those times when he had smelled her to relieve himself of his… unique condition.

And she would be pleased to know that it had occurred to him. But as much as he hoped for her to want that of him he would not even try unless if she made it abundantly and startlingly clear that she was attracted to him. She thought she would if it came to that. If he remained oblivious of her flirting long enough she might have to do something drastic. But she didn't want to do that unless if it was the only option. Simply showing him her tits the next time she saw him didn't strike her as wise.

It was at that time she was faintly reminded of words that might have come from her mother, the parent that she might have grown up with before she went to Garden. 'Never stay with the man who harms you girl, and more than that, make sure _never_ to start anything with the boy who hurts you from the beginning.'

Joselyn chuckled thinking about how defiant she was being of that rule. Because not only had Grave left a deep wound, scarring her, he had scared her too.

In fact Grave had scared her a million time's more than he had hurt her. Now that she thought of it, he hadn't hurt her intentionally since the day almost a month ago when they fought in the Training Center.

What's the harm in wanting someone who's only hurt you once? And who has lived with you for a month and done nothing to harm you after getting to know you for that matter? Perhaps mothers didn't always think their advice through. It did sound quite a bit spiteful when she thought about it, when she thought about the tone that she imagined it being spoken with.

Joselyn decided she was thinking too much of frivolous parental advice. Joselyn decided to catch her attention to something else. Grave would be there soon and she didn't want him to catch her fretting over her own little mistakes concerning him.

Joselyn stretched her entire body like an enormous cat and leaned more lazily against the tree. She hoped the tension and worry in her muscles might evaporate if she relaxed, as if she had been holding it in with her former position. Of course it didn't work; really the tension and worry didn't so much leave her as it dripped from muscles and her brain, migrating into her stomach.

Joselyn made a face. Wasn't relaxation supposed to be relaxing? She had meant for this to be pleasant, but one little mistake on her part just had to weigh so heavily on her mind. Hopefully Grave wasn't thinking the same way she was about this. Hopefully he could show up soon and just make her feel better; maybe he could just quell her worry with his obliviousness.

That was a mean thing to think she thought, but she had to admit it was true. Concerning matters of her feelings for him, Grave seemed to be about as aware as a deaf crone unknowingly wandering into a metal concert.

_That was an even meaner thought_, but she stopped herself there. She was on the verge of ending up in an infinite self scorning loop she noticed, so it was best to stop early.

For the next several minutes Joselyn fiddled with her belt buckle. She, Cody and Grave had all purchased belts together shortly after their graduation at the Gardens clothing store. Why the Garden had a place to buy cool clothes was completely beyond her at first. But after a bit of thought it made some sense. After a short discussion –that Grave was for some reason very inclined to end quickly- the trio decided that it was only a way to bring some of civilization to the Garden.

Selecting a clothing store of all things made a certain amount of sense considering that primarily the population of Garden was of teenagers and young adults. Although the store was small and unsatisfactory but it was better than nothing –not that Joselyn was an indulgent clothes shopper like some of her stereotypical counterparts.

Although the store was kind of stupid, the belts were really cool. The actual strap parts of the belts weren't particularly special but the buckles were shaped like Trabian Characters each of the three meaning something different. Interestingly, they didn't actually find out what the characters stood for until after they had bought them and looked them up on the internet, and the meaning of the symbols for the three individuals corresponded suspiciously well with their wearers.

Joselyn's buckle read 'Spirit.' Cody and Grave had of course said immediately that it was perfect, and she of course responded with an equal amount of modesty, although she quietly agreed with them for sake of her pride. She supposed that she did have a definitive spirit but the arrogance to admit that with her voice was beyond her. But nonetheless the arrogance to actually believe it wasn't, so perhaps that made up for it.

After looking up Joselyn's they looked for Cody's which read 'Earth.' Yet again they found themselves pleased by the appropriateness of the symbol. Cody was indeed a very down to earth character. And of course when the other two teenagers wanted his input he put in his two cents worth of modesty but agreed more openly than Joselyn had that he was pleased with his new decoration.

The feeling of something smooth and cold on Joselyn's neck made her jump nearly to her feet. She stumbled trying to regain her footing but ended up landing ass first on the roots of the try again. As Grave laughed as friends do when they play pranks on other friends Joselyn adjusted herself on the roots of the tree and made a bitter face to him.

She almost softened her face upon seeing him but with the willpower that could only come from such a proud spirit she kept her forehead stiff. Grave was smiling for her, and although he had just laughed at her expense it was a friendly smile, the look of a dead man wearing a happy boy's face.

Graves belt buckle read 'Death.' When they had been looking up the meanings of their characters, and when they came across Graves nobody said anything. Cody and Joselyn looked at each other quietly and Grave only stared at the screen. But they had agreed silently but nonetheless agreed that his symbol was as fitting for him as the other symbols for his friends were respectably.

After a few minutes of a friendly staring contest Joselyn allowed her features to set themselves in their more attractive setting. Joselyn lowered her gaze –not too low- and noted that he was holding a book. His arm was covering the title but she recognized the color of the cover. He had brought the libraries copy of the Limerick.

Joselyn smiled, he brought a book, he played a friendly joke and now he was smiling for her. It seemed that he had pulled through for her. She smiled more softly now which got a confused reaction for Grave but he seemed to dismiss it without speaking about it. Grave gestured to the book.

"You didn't say what you wanted to do so I just brought this," he paused, thought for a moment, and then looked to her questioningly, "unless if you're bored with it now, I can always return it." Another example of his thoughtfulness.

"No it's alright," she replied assuredly then patted on the ground beside her. "Take off your shoes, stay awhile," she said and smiled.

Grave set the book down and began unbuckling his boots. Joselyn watched while he wasn't watching her, letting herself give him a look of interest she avoided when he had his eyes locked with hers. Grave threw his boots on the grass and Joselyn wiggled her toes to distract herself with the unique sensation until he plopped down beside her and mimicked her toe wiggling.

The silliness was entertaining but it ended quickly so Grave picked the book up and opened it to a random page. While he spoke Joselyn undid her braids and began tying thinner ones on the left side of her face. Before he began reading Grave looked up from the book in thought, and then spoke.

"Why _did_ you ask me to come here?" he asked incredulously, and only looked more incredulous when she looked at him worriedly, luckily for her she thought of her excuse quickly.

"I just wanted to spend some time with you," she answered vaguely, a bit too vaguely for Grave it seemed, because he furrowed his brows a bit more.

"But we live together, we spend time together all the time," he pointed out, and at that point Joselyn was starting to resent Grave for looking into this so deeply.

"Well then I wanted to spend some time with you here!'" she said and gestured around them at the park.

And that was actually a very good excuse. Over the years of the Garden being a building harboring children taught to think and question, there had always been this one little question that nagged at certain students. What was in the spaces between the different areas?

Those students who put thought into this all agreed that simply filling it with concrete –or whatever it was the Gardens were made of- because that would not only be a waste of space, but a waste of material as well. There had to be something there, be it spare resources like rations or weapons. Or perhaps there was an evil Guardian Force being kept in the unseen areas, held in a locked box or a coffin or a chastity belt or something.

In actuality there was nothing there. But the rumors spread quickly and once they reached Cid and were passed on to Squall the plans to create new areas in the Garden was made. The work had been long and tedious and it was nearly impossible to keep such construction jobs a secret, it was very amazing the students hadn't actually confirmed that it had happened at all until the unveiling.

Juusan Park was a very good example. It was located in between the Library and the Training Center. Although small as parks went, it was still a very pleasant place. The ceiling was a skylight and the terra forming had been performed by none other than the Shumi Tribe. It was indeed a proud accomplishment for Garden and of course those with pets didn't have to take complaints for their pets disposing of waste in inappropriate areas. Lots, and lots, of bushes.

Her excuse was perfect really, no matter how skeptical Grave wanted to be about it. It was true that they spent a lot of time together –especially lately- but Juusan Park was a good place. It was much more pleasant than any other area of the Garden, except perhaps the pool ring in the atrium but it was too much trouble to get in and out of that thing. And of course the lecturing one would get for that wouldn't make it worth it.

Grave continued to give her the suspicious look but she had essentially driven him into a corner. But then he shrugged and pretended to look indifferent and looked to the hard cover in his hands.

"You're a strange girl Joselyn," he declared and skimmed over the pages for an interesting poem to speak aloud, and Joselyn smiled at him.

"Oh you love it," she said matter-of-factly, and she smiled more when he smiled back.

"_There was a young girl of Madrid_

_Who thought she'd be having a kid._

_So by holding the water_

_Three months and a quarter_

_She drowned the poor bastard she did,_" Joselyn's mouth gaped open the way mouths gape when they don't know whether to laugh or protest like an over zealous Hyne fanatic, Grave however just giggled a lot and grinned longer.

"That is awful!" she exclaimed in good humor.

"But it's funny!" he said happily.

"Well yeah it's funny too but it's still awful."

_**EG**_

They were sitting beside one another, together and alone in a park, they were shoulder to shoulder and Joselyn's hair was mostly spilled over her shoulders. They were giggling over the same things and reading poetry to each other and enjoying one another body heat whether they were calling attention to that or not. It was quite the romantic scene he thought, it was quintessential and everything.

This was how Cody found them.

He had just left Bridgett's room after a very active night and was on his way to retrieve a poetry book from the library himself. But something had told him to check out the new park and by his 'ever reliable' luck he found his two best friends together, surprisingly the only people there.

Actually it wasn't that surprising. Few people were up at this hour and those two were known –or he knew anyway- that they liked to plan their activities for times when they wouldn't encounter other people. Originally it was because Grave just didn't want to run into anybody else. But now it looked like they were doing this out of more than habit rather than respect for Grave.

Cody was leaning against a weeping willow and expecting they wouldn't see him. He would talk to them in a moment but he wanted to take in the sweet scene in front of him first. They were pretty cute together he thought.

It was Cody's conviction that Grave and Joselyn were like a couple that didn't fuck.

If one really considered it, it was all there. First of all they lived together and peacefully at that. Although they hadn't known each other for a very long time they enjoyed one another's company and were together more often than not. Lastly, they did things like _this_. Nobody just sits around and reads poetry with friends without being interested in them romantically.

Perhaps there were people who could do that with friends without wanting them that way, but if he knew Grave and Joselyn –and of course he did- then he could say that neither of them would do this with just anyone. In fact they scarcely did it with him.

Cody gave them a few more minutes without his interruption before he approached them. Predictably both people noticed him until he stood directly in front of them and after they had finished a fit of giggles and debate over how balanced the humor and tragedy in one particular poem was. They even looked up to him together, Joselyn wiping one tear from her eye that Cody didn't notice.

"Hey blondie," Joselyn said using her current mood of very good humor while she had it.

Grave said nothing but he smiled at Cody to recognize that he was there. Looking at them together then, he remembered something he was told to tell them, perhaps that was why he had received the feeling that he should have gone to the new park.

"So did you two hear the news?" he asked knowing for a fact that they hadn't.

They furrowed their brows with their smiles like he knew they would but gave no evidence that they were wary of what he would say.

"We're going to go on our first mission today."

When he said that they looked over excited for a pair that would soon be killing people and possibly collecting secret information for money, but then again neither one was experienced enough in those fields to understand that. All they knew was that they were finally doing what they had been training for after varying year's time. They thought their time to shine had finally come.

Instead the trio smiled and cheered only for themselves and let themselves be happy that they would finally get to do what they had been waiting and training for. There would be plenty of time to understand that their true time to shine would come later.

After the back patting and other such behavior ended Grave took his opportunity to speak up.

"So what are we doing?" he asked quickly so as to get that question out of the way before he could be cut off.

"We are to protect this rich chick in Deling city. Her name is Cornucopia Ostentat," as he said the name he used a tone that said 'can you believe this?' and enunciated each syllable with piercing precision and sloth.

Grave and Joselyn each made their own 'why in the world would somebody name their child that?' faces respectively and tried to keep their minds off of how slothfulness could be piercing. Cody continued to report for them.

"There are some Military renegades after her and we're supposed to protect her from them, and capture or exterminate her threats," he finished more respectfully, and he remained with that demeanor even when his comrades didn't do the same.

"Do we know anything about our enemy?" Joselyn asked intelligently but having a hard time segueing into a serious mood, and Grave looked like he was feeling the same.

"Only that they have military training, they couldn't give us any defining details about them," disappointing, but not hopeless.

"When are we leaving?" asked Grave.

"This afternoon, we're leaving by Whelp and we're expected at the Ostentat Mansion this evening." Cody paused and looked at Grave with more seriousness. "And there's something in my room for you," he pointed to Grave, "that we need to deal with before we leave." Grave raised an eyebrow, and then he furrowed both brows when Cody began to look hesitant to speak.

"Can I just meet you guys in your room later?" he asked suspiciously –to Grave more than Joselyn but Joselyn was nonetheless suspicious.

The pair nodded and smiled almost with fakeness when their friend smiled and left them alone again. After Cody was gone the pair sat down in their same spots. Instead of reading more erotic limericks they just rested against the tree and watched how still the leaves were without wind.

Perhaps there would be some air current installed at some point? They thought. That would be good for including a bit more realism to this indoor park of theirs. Grave was going to continue his end of the synchronized reverie but Joselyn interrupted him.

"What do you think he was talking about?" Joselyn asked and with good reason.

"I'm not sure, he's never like that is he?" he asked deeply, metaphorically massaging Joselyn's brain for her to add another pair of her cents.

"Yeah, he usually just says what's on his mind but he was really hesitant just now," it was interesting Grave thought, how they were sounding more like they were examining the situation than they were worrying about it.

Was this a good thing?

Yeah, he concluded mostly out of laziness, it probably is.

"We'll find out soon in any event," he said with a touch more of upbeat finality and he closed his eyes, he wiggled his toes.

**Cover The Boy Up**

I don't know how to feel about this. I can't help but feel insulted but at the same time there's a part of me that's relieved. When Joselyn and I met Cody in our room like we agreed he presented to us what looked like a cell phone at a first glance. That moment I think was very awkward because Cody said nothing, and we said nothing, so nothing was what followed for quite some time.

After a moment Cody sighed and opened the object up revealing two brushes, a small pallet of beige make up, a pink pallet of lip paint, and another rectangular section which was lidded. The brush and the make up was obvious enough to me, I figured it out immediately. Joselyn however didn't quite get it, in fact she took it the wrong way entirely.

She said very sternly actually 'I don't wear make up.' I almost laughed but I kept my mouth shut and Cody told her the stuff wasn't for her.

Cody then explained to us –more to me actually—that an order was made to make me wear this stuff on public missions from now on. My complexion might make people feel uneasy he explained, as it had been explained to him, so I should wear this to make myself blend in.

Joselyn actually protested which was flattering and confusing at the same time. But I managed to calm her down by saying that I thought it was a good call to order this stuff for me. She calmed down although reluctantly and even turned out to be the one to apply the stuff to me.

And now I sit in our spacious SeeD apartment, on the couch with Joselyn kneeling in front of me and painting my face with the strange substance. I say that it's strange because the make up isn't normal. It is designed only by Garden I think.

Once applied the make up becomes more like a latex substance. It looks the same and very easily passes as flesh to one who is only looking at it. It's basically like an extra layer of skin that can be peeled off.

It reminds me of rubber cement. That adhesive that was useless for anything other than the entertainment of applying it to your skin just so you could peel it off. Except rubber cement does nothing to make the skin look more alive.

Joselyn is very, very close right now. The time we took to arrange ourselves for this was probably funny to Cody. At first I was sitting deep into the couch and my legs were crossed, this seemed to me to be a position as good as any other. Joselyn apparently didn't see it that way. She grabbed my crossed leg by the foot and pulled me forward sliding my ass to the edge of the seat.

Now, if not for Joselyn's flat stomach –now pressed firmly against my crotch- is the only thing keeping my ass from sliding off of the couch. Her breasts are almost brushing against my chest, and her face is about neck level on me while she brushes my cheeks. She has her other hand on my shoulder, I think that she's trying to steady me but if she's not then I suppose that she only needed a place to put her free hand.

I could think of a couple of other places where she could put it but I don't think that would go over so well, near her stomach would be at the top of the list I think.

My eyes are closed of course. And I don't need to see it to sense how aggravated she is by that. I think that she's been delaying applying the make up to my eyelids for a reason. What bothers me is that she refuses to give up. She knows that I don't like it when people look at me at all, and she's going to great lengths to examine these two tiny details on me. She's a very tenacious girl Joselyn; I really wish she'd be less tenacious about me.

Or maybe I don't, or I do… Hyne damn it, are all women this confusing? I think I'll ask Cody about that sometime, he'd be the one to know after all.

Joselyn adjusts herself and starts brushing at a different angle. I really hope that she didn't notice that her movements made my loins stir. Her facial expression is still focused and distracted so I'm guessing that she's too interested in what she's doing to notice. I sigh inwardly thinking that an outward one would raise the question that I don't want to answer.

It occurs to me that I've never seen Joselyn wear makeup before, and now I wonder how she knows how to apply it so well.

_**EG**_

"Joselyn?" Grave asked very quietly showing her how worried he was that she might get angry if he made her slip up.

"Yes?" she asked with all the interest in his words that her eyes were ignoring, she was too focused to smile for him.

"How do you know how to do this?" Joselyn thought for a moment then paused her brushing motions.

"How do I know how to do what?" when she said this Grave inwardly sighed once more.

"How do you know how to put on make up?" he asked sounding more impatient than was necessary.

Although Joselyn was a touch irritated with his tone of voice she suppressed it just like she had her smile. "Well my friends in Trabia liked to do all of the plays and there had to be people to apply the make up. And I was one of those people," she answered simply and then continued to brush him, she moved from his other cheek now complete and started with his chin.

Grave wanted to speak again but he thought if he spoke she'd screw up and get some of it on his teeth or something. So he waited until his chin and his jaw was finished, after she had somehow brushed his ears adequately and got to work on his forehead. She seemed to have trouble at that point because his hair kept falling back into place and she wanted to keep the stuff out of his hair.

After his face was thoroughly covered by the make up Grave chose to speak up but Joselyn tried to speak at the same time, they went through the predictable short feud where both tried to be polite for the other by offering one another to speak first. In the end Grave was triumphant and so he spoke.

"I was just going to say that I've never seen you wear it," he said a bit awkwardly, thinking it was a bit embarrassing they had the equivalent of an argument just so he could say that first.

"Oh," she said then seemed to think for a moment but then disregard her thought then she brought her attention back to her aroused roommate.

"Well I need you to take off your shirt," she said simply, Grave looked very unsure and Joselyn elevated her brows as if to ask what on Gaia was wrong with that.

"I don't want to get this stuff on your clothes, and the nuance between your skin and the make up will be really obvious at your neckline," she said making her work sound much more technical then it actually was.

Grave looked rather incredulous and he held that look in case he could break Joselyn's cool, self assured demeanor. He couldn't of course, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she was trying something unsavory, or at least unfamiliar.

"You're not trying to get me to strip are you?" he joked trying hard to keep the joking sound from his voice.

Joselyn met his stare evenly and smiled a bit.

_So what if I am?_ she thought lecherously whilst saying, "of course not," which she said innocently, and only because he didn't believe it was true he smiled back and took off his T-shirt, very slowly and carefully so as not to disturb Joselyn's work.

On Joselyn's end Grave still looked remarkably bored and deeply uninterested in getting naked. As she was brushing at the base of his neck she thought idly if she could convince him to strip even more but based on how reluctant he had been with just his shirt she thought she was lucky enough for him to remove even that.

After much deep thought Joselyn had agreed with Grave that the mask makeup was in fact a wise idea but it had taken some convincing for her, which upon further thought made no sense since she had no say in the matter and even she knew that.

Even after knowing him for about a months time Joselyn failed to grasp exactly what was wrong with his appearance. She had even gone so far as to ask the other students what they saw in him that was unpleasant. They had said quite surprisingly –and yet it wasn't- the very same thing Grave had predicted they thought. They were simply uncomfortable seeing someone who looked cadaverous walking around like another monster.

This infuriating piece of information had Joselyn jamming her hands in her pockets for hidden concern that they'd find their way to her weapon. Not as she predicted she was more angry that it was true and not at all because Grave was right again about the thoughts of others. That kind of shallowness made Joselyn want to say that she wanted to puke.

She herself was still quite the opposite of the shallow ones. Everyday Joselyn found Graves appearance more and more pleasant. She often found herself watching him without noticing herself, much the way when someone notices that they're dreaming just before they awaken.

She knew that he was bothered when even she looked at him but she didn't let a little thing like that make her stop. And besides, she also knew that Grave watched her the same way when she wasn't looking, like when she was actually reading instead of watching him, or those few minutes before he rubbed her back to wake her up.

The notions of cadaver hood needless to say were nothing more than nonsense to her. And if he was a corpse then he was not the gross kind if that were possible. He did not look like a creature that had been mutilated and then rotted in the dirt somewhere with wormholes in the skin and the children of maggots in his eyes.

He wasn't some toothless lumbering thing that stank and was missing sections of its hair and organs and he certainly wasn't hungry for brains. What he actually was was fair. He was not the meat loaf that had gone bad in the fridge, more he was the wine that had fermented politely for perhaps three years.

His skin and eyes she admitted did look the part of death, but a quiet death, and a peaceful one at that. His aroma was meaty –for some reason, she had failed thus far to ask him about that- but it was not decayed. His posture was good enough for a teenager who was unconcerned about his spine and…

…and he was pretty damn it…

…and he was even prettier than that the closer her got to naked. Joselyn smirked to herself when she thought about that. Graves pupils weren't the only parts of him that she wanted to examine.

She almost forced herself to stop smiling the way she was but then she remembered that Grave was shutting his eyes so she would have her privacy with her little crush a little more.

"You can put your shirt back on now," she said with finality and started putting away the part of the kit designated for skin.

Joselyn gave Grave a little space for putting his shirt back on by sitting on her heels and thereby allowing his cock some room to breathe. Joselyn allowed herself another particularly sweet smile while Grave had his shirt over his head, and it was a sweet smile savored because Grave was being very careful with putting the garment back on.

Having been sexually for about three years, Joselyn was all too aware that a teenage boy's dick had a hair trigger on it. And based on the moment when she put herself in that position to apply Graves make up she found that he was no exception.

Also, since she was on the subject of the teenage boy characteristics. Grave was obviously no exception concerning the 'I don't wear make up Hyne-Damnit' attitude. But all the same Grave allowed himself to be subjected to the treatment for the sake of practicality, of course.

After Grave had his shirt on again and his eyes once more lidded shut Joselyn assumed her other position and continued her secret smile when she saw Grave wince. She took out the brush for lipstick, Grave gulped audibly after wincing and Joselyn was tempted to rub against him a little bit –oddly enough though, it would be more for the sake of playful torment than it would her desire to please him. Instead of doing that since she thought it would be too suspicious she dabbed the sponge like brush in the light pink matter and put thin streaks across those violet lips.

Not for the first time during their make up session Joselyn thought about kissing him. Now more than ever though because it was his lips she was working on. They were so close then, and it would feel so good to just let him know what she wanted, and by simply taking it when he certainly wouldn't protest seemed like the perfect way to do it.

But that would probably smear the lip stick she told herself mentally. All things considered that was a pretty stupid excuse but she really, really needed an excuse to keep her lips to herself and if that was all she could come up with then she would need to take it.

That aside it almost pained Joselyn to cover up that violet color on his lips. She would have complained about it but Grave would have no doubt told her something like, 'the public would be suspicious of purple lips, they'd think I was wearing lip stick,' or, 'you would be wearing lip stick,' she might retort smartly. But Joselyn knew he would find a way to make her shut up and put the stuff on him.

Grave was very skilled in the ways of making her pretend to see things his way and acting accordingly.

Joselyn gave his lips one final stroke and the task with the make up was done. She put the items back in the compartment resembling a cell phone and stood up. Grave followed suit and almost fell back against the couch for sake of not coming in contact with Joselyn but she took a step back in time for him to maintain his equilibrium.

After the make up was applied to his face, neck, his ears and even his fingers –she would have covered his whole hands but Grave was insistent on wearing his gloves all the time as he always did- there was one last detail to cover.

The contact lenses at first glance were just transparent but they gave the irises just the right shade of yellow to turn Grave's corpsely eyes a dark green color. It would be artificial -and perhaps they would be much like Joselyn's darker eye- but Joselyn was they would be pretty nonetheless.

Joselyn popped the once mysterious lid of the compartment and presented Grave with his drenched eye saucers. Grave seemed to be in a daze for instead of taking the eye contacts he stared at them long and hard. He didn't even look interested in them, not pleasantly anyway. It was the same look he gave the cafeteria food that he himself had not cooked; he was looking at something inferior or in some other way unwelcome.

Joselyn chose not to wave a hand in front of his face or speak to him and so she waited. That waiting paid off eventually when he carefully but swiftly snatched the object from her hand and went into the bathroom.

Upon his shutting the door –which was louder than she'd expected from him, perhaps she had failed to detect some hostility in him- Joselyn sat on the spot of the couch where Grave had been sitting and enjoyed the feeling of the warmth he left behind. She must have looked silly she thought, since she was sitting only on the warm spot which left her perched on the edge of the couch. But Grave wasn't watching, so her appearance was at that moment not a factor.

After several minutes of forgetting that Grave was still in the bathroom Joselyn found herself in a very pathetic state. She was trying desperately to absorb as much warmth from the spot as possible but it kept becoming narrower and she found herself squirming to maintain it. And it was at that moment that she realized how small Graves butt must actually be.

Cody's trademark knocking forced her to forget about Graves butt for the moment and pull herself away from the couch –which quite pathetically was not unlike pulling warm taffy from a wrapper- and answer the door for her friend.

Upon opening the door she found Cody's expression to be predictably fitting for the situation. He was smiling pleasantly as usual but his sympathy and concern for Grave was obvious.

"How'd it go?" he asked quietly and eagerly at once.

"He's fine, he almost slammed the door though," Cody almost looked worried but at the same time he looked well, not worried.

Perhaps it was because of what he thought about them. Whether he was right about them or not he knew for a fact that Joselyn was very good at keeping Grave's temper down. In fact upon his meeting her –if it could be called a meeting- he had not had any more violent encounters with other students.

Grave himself hadn't given this any thought at all, and Joselyn was aware of it but had no idea why it was working that way. This made Cody grin and hold in his laughter and enthusiasm. Clearly the beast had been tamed by the beauty but he knew that if he put it that way out loud he probably wouldn't be putting things in any way for quite a while.

In the last month Grave had become noticeably tamer with his tormentors and ignorers. When he saw people giving him the looks they gave him and the stupid remarks about his complexion he didn't look as phased as he once did. Some times he didn't pay any attention to them at all; he looked like he had something –or someone- else on his mind.

Cody liked to think that he was thinking about Joselyn, and he was willing to bet his last name that he was right. Although he was glad that Joselyn liked to be around them and everything, Grave was still a closer friend to him, and so he was much happier for Grave.

Cody came in and Joselyn shut the door. They were about to continue their discussion about Grave and the substance he was forced to wear for their mission but Grave himself interrupted them when he came out of the bathroom.

Cody opened his mouth as he pivoted his head to his friend, but instead of saying something he blinked and allowed his mouth to hang open letting out nothing rather than whatever comment he had planned.

Aside from the organic highlights in his hair Grave looked remarkably normal. His eyes were now that dark green Joselyn had expected, although it was a shade or two lighter than her own right eye. The skin on his fingers neck and face was now a more average looking shade of beige. He was still somewhat fair but not nearly as much so as he was underneath the mask.

Cody rudely looked bewildered for a bit but then he smiled.

"Dude, you're pretty," he paused, "like a girl," he added and smiled through the sneer that Grave was giving him, as well as the one Joselyn was shooting him from behind.

"Thanks," he stated ungratefully.

Cody turned to Joselyn and pretended she wasn't shooting him a death glare, or maybe he was just enjoying it because she was further proving his point of their relationship by shooting him said glare.

"You're good," he complimented shortly and excitedly without a trace of that high pitched tone of voice people tended to use when complimenting, the tone that made people sound like they were asking a question.

Cody was totally honest; there was no doubt in his voice. And that was what saved him from whatever wrath Joselyn might have conjured. It seemed that Cody could always have a redeeming quality about him. It was not quite infuriating but it was close, and perhaps that was another quality of his nice guy demeanor. No matter how much you might want to hate the guy you could never do it.

Grave chose that moment to speak up, perhaps because he didn't like that Joselyn had been looking at Cody for such a long time.

"Are we leaving soon?" he said sounding a tone that was like a hybrid of bored and impatient but not entirely hard to comprehend.

"Yeah, now in fact, did you guys pack?" he asked.

"We did, where's your stuff?" Grave asked happy to explore other subjects.

"My stuff's in the hangar already," he stated and thrust one thumb over his shoulder in a direction entirely different from the hangar.

"I guess we're ready then." Said Grave, going to his dresser for his luggage.

Joselyn followed suit and in minutes the trio was in the hallway with their door locking shut behind them.

The walk to the hangar was a short one, regardless of the attention Grave was getting. The quickness was thanks in part to Joselyn and both of the men knew it. Before her arrival Grave would exact as much vengeance as he could get away with when people did this to him –although right now it was not so much malicious verbal strikes as it was curious looks. He would usually strike back with a threatening retort or five, and with it he would give a devils grin which was entirely evil regardless of his hidden desire to be accepted.

Those verbal threats were what happened most often, and soon there would be another one to come.

As usual there were people in the hallway, and as Grave passed them his friends were ignored and he became the center of attention, although right now it was for a different reason. After they passed people or were passed by people they could hear the hushed whispers the quiet questions, was that him? And if so why did he look so different.

Even though this was infinitely preferable to the verbal spouts he normally dealt with he was more eager than before to get to the hangar and off to Deling City. And by the look on Cody's face he knew that his friend didn't want to witness anything burst out.

But as much as Grave wanted to pull through for Cody his desire for revenge would win once more.

They were nearly to the entrance to the hangar when one particularly daring cadet sitting with a little girl, probably his sister, made an unfortunately audible remark.

"See that Nimmy?" he said quietly but not quietly enough and pointed to Grave, with his arm wrapped around the girls shoulders and his mouth very close to her ear.

It looked very much like he was telling the little girl a secret.

"That's a demon, but don't be fooled, he only looks pretty 'cause he's wearing somebody elses skin," the daring cadet looked at Grave after he said that, wearing a stupid and unnecessary smile.

For once Cody found himself holding back not Grave, but Joselyn. Everyone had noticed Joselyn's reaction to the remark except for Grave, and that was a pity for Grave was the only one who needed to notice.

Instead Grave had his level stare on the little girl like he had not paid any attention to the elder from the beginning although he had. Joselyn calmed down, and after some persuasion Cody released her. In front of them Grave was still staring at the little girl. After such a long look the elder cadet was looking angrier and protective and after Grave continued to watch the girl he called out.

"Hey, keep your eyes to yourself!"

Grave did a double take then on the guy and looked at him as if he had just arrived. Upon showing recognition Grave smiled at the cadet but quickly brought his attention back to the girl.

Then he walked, long cotton swathed arms wrapped around the little girl protectively but neither biped budged, they only watched as Grave stepped closer to her. Once he was in front of them Grave kneeled politely in front of the girl and offset his politeness with a grin befitting something of a sadist, perhaps a pedophile or sexual bandit.

"You know," Grave said and he smiled more when the arms drew tighter along the girl's narrow chest and when the girl made a quiet sound for her discomfort, "demons love to eat little girls."

It all happened very quickly but only trained eyes were watching and so the event was not missed. A fist from the cadet lashed out at a short distance to Grave but instead of landing on his nose and tearing the make up Joselyn had worked so hard to apply it landed in Graves leathered palm and just as quickly Grave stood up and the cadet was spun to his back side and the girl fell safely at their feet.

Grave was now holding the cadets arms behind his back and looked ready to take it off and sling it over his shoulder like peeking duck. Grave twisted but only slightly, the PesticidE designated for the Hangar post was not there at the moment but there were others, and he didn't want to get caught right before his first mission for fear of being taken off the job. The cadet made just the volume of sound Grave was after and it was then Grave chose to speak to _him_.

"Will you shut your damn mouth or will I have to make this girl watch me take your arm away?" Grave sounded so different, so unlike himself, or so unlike the Grave that Joselyn knew anyway.

The cadet muttered an apology and groped his arm in relief after Grave let him have it back. Forgetting entirely about the guy and the girl Grave returned to his friends and gestured that they go into the hangar then. They both nodded with each their respective faces for Graves activity which Grave rudely ignored. They left behind the people in the atrium and made themselves think only of their mission and less of each other.

**Departure**

Inside the hangar, before the trio arrived Zell Dintch was scratching his head and wondering with his entire mind where the Wendigo wrench was. He was not on shift he had said to Savior moments before, but he was going to be the pilot for the recent Deling mission. But regardless of whether he was actually working or not Zell wanted to keep track of his tools. As his late foster father had once said to him 'The sign of a good mechanic is a complete and organized set of tools.'

_If this was true then Zell Dintch was not a very good mechanic,_ thought Savior.

Although the combined efforts of Raijin and Zell had created a hangar, a plethora of miniature Ragnaroks, and even a unique degreaser that existed only in the Balamb and Trabia Gardens, they had also created an impressive vacancy where a lot of the equipment was supposed to be.

Or had it been them? After the disappearance of the Headmaster many who knew of Zells ranting about missing parts wondered if those happenings were not their bumbling but supernatural activity. Zell still blamed the gremlins though, mostly out of the sake of humor, for humor was needed for some people at that time.

One really had to wonder what Zell thought the Gremlins _did_ with all of the things he claimed they were stealing.

Savior himself was pacing back and forth beside the entryway, he was twirling his sword idly but with a certain amount of boast as the twirling was complicated and the activity was taking place above his head. Admittedly, this method of passing the time was one of the reasons he selected the weapon to begin with. The weapon was shaped very much like an exacto knife but the shape was changed adequately to make it a sword. As for the easy twirling, the weapons center of gravity was in its hilt. This made for quick swinging. Although this did make it an effective weapon, Savior mostly got it so he could do this.

"Has there been any word on the disappearance of the Headmaster or SeeD Saeta?" asked Savior partially out of concern, but it was interpreted as idle conversation to Zell who couldn't hear the other mans actual tone.

"Nothing on Squall," began Zell on a low note, he didn't turn around from the tools rack, "But Raijin heard from Fujin yesterday and he flew out to Trabia to join her on a mission she had."

"What was she doing in Trabia?" some of the elevated tone in Saviors voice made its way through the mouth piece when he asked that but Zell didn't notice.

"Beginning her mission apparently, she said that she just vanished the night of the graduation and appeared in Trabia a week after that. Raijin said that she was totally ready when she prepared ya know? It was a weird coincidence," Zell rummaged through a tray of miscellaneous metallic objects hoping to find what he was looking for, it was like he was fishing.

"That's good news," Savior said, he not once stopped twirling his weapon.

Having run out of things to talk about Zell continued his search for the enormous tool and Savior moved to a more open space of the hangar where he performed one his boring katas. Though as boring as they may have been to him an observer would find it interesting.

Savior swung high, and then he swung low behind him. He swung upwards then charged ahead of him while swinging the sword in an infinity pattern numerous times. He then moved on to other movements and while he was doing them he paid much less attention than an onlooker might think. If anything the katas were something to pass the time. The ones that he was taught he found were much more like a dance then they were of actually combat. When in combat, the amount of style applied to your movements is limited due to the fear of death and other concerns.

This was perhaps another reason why Savior didn't like katas. He was not fond of dancing. That was one of the reasons –if not the only reason- he brought Quistis from the ball room that night and took her to the bridge where events turned far differently than he had expected.

Savior finished with a flashy pose which he left incomplete for the sake of his weapons sharpness. It was a quick spin and a strike to the ground with his weapon, he was then to drag it around him and make an arc shape on the ground but instead he stopped just an inch above the floor and moved it around him as if he was posing appropriately.

The training to remain calm under pressure he had endured for so long almost didn't keep him from falling on his ass when he heard the applause. He looked up from his weapon to see the trio he was meant to protect for an undetermined amount of time.

It was only the lighter haired ones who clapped. SeeD Grave was looking just as unimpressed as he felt –and equally different physically- he nodded in recognition as if his friends weren't behaving differently. Savior nodded to him as well joining him for only a moment to ignore his comrades.

"We got you? Sweet," said SeeD Highwind with satisfaction and then proceeded to their designated Whelp where he opened up the luggage compartment for his friends. His own luggage was apparently inside already.

"You guys have all of your stuff right?" asked Zell who was met with a collective muttering of positives and so he vanquished the thought that they might be missing something.

"Then let's not waste time, we need to be their by this evening," said Savior after slinging his own belongings over his shoulder, the belongings being in a bag that would have matched his outfit if it had the colors of blue and gold lining it.

Everybody stored their luggage in the designated compartment then boarded the Whelp. After the machine was started –and after some friendly banter about Joselyn remembering to restrain herself this time around- it was airborne and out of the inanimate dragons jaws they flew.

_**EG**_

Quistis opened the fifth potion bottle and poured its contents into the pool of potion liquid in the heating device. She placed the bottle on a metal tray where droplets of the magic fluid splashed onto the metal where it would eventually be wiped away as if it were as unimportant as apple juice. She turned the device up to one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit and closed the lid tightly.

She was turning away when she briefly contemplated the droplets of potion fluid and why exactly they didn't save them somehow. It seemed a waste to let such precious fluid that was so hard to make go to waste. Surely the amount of droplets they let fall added up to some substantial amount.

This nitpicking Quistis was going through was a bit silly but it was still not without good reason. Ever since the declaration of Galbadias grudge against B-Garden they had been forced to become more resourceful for themselves. It was true they had certain agreements with Esthar that in the beginning where they were to accepts supplies which had helped wonders. But since then Squall had allowed his malice for his father drive him away from the help and since then they had used their monster harvests to keep themselves stocked up on the necessary supplies.

Although a certain amount of magical refining was in order sometimes they needed to apply more science to their methods of staying stocked up, hence her brewing the potions into hi-potions. The process was simple enough; the content of a normal potion contained a lot of water, since magic hitting the system the way it did when it was swallowed a certain amount of dilution was necessary. To make a hi-potion –something designated for more serious injuries due to the lack of dilution- you simply combined three normal potions and heated them until the excess fluid evaporated away. To make Hi-potion+ or X-potions you repeat the process.

The concern about their supplies was getting worse as of late. For three years they had been doing a stable enough job of remaining in good supplies but lately things were looking grim. Three years was a good run, but they were running out of food and medical supplies and so they needed very badly to restock.

This was why they were defying the Headmasters orders and directing the Garden to Esthar.

Xu's habit had always been to take charge immediately when there was a crisis and her superiors could do little or nothing. It happened three years ago when the battle between Cid's followers and Norg's followers broke out and it was happening again after Squalls disappearance.

Xu assumed the temporary Headmaster rank as instantly as Quistis suggested it to her if not sooner. After all Quistis had walked in on her making the calls that she –due to her position as a non-headmaster staff member- was not obligated to make to Esthar to do the very thing that Quistis was thinking about. Xu was trouble to Squall, if not just for the reason that she nagged him about things like Esthar.

It was perhaps a good thing that Squall had vanished when he did. He could be a stubborn man sometimes and that stubbornness might have sent B-Garden down the tubes… or into the ocean rather.

Upon hitting that thought Quistis remembered about the other occupant of the Infirmary, she also remembered about a conversation that she had with Raijin before he left the previous day.

Rinoas mood had not improved noticeably even after that humorous banter from the previous day. Her work had improved however, and Quistis couldn't help but hate the part of her that was happy about that. Regardless of how helpful it actually was and how un-helpable Rinoas situation was.

Or was it?

Rinoa was at her desk finishing paper work the same way Quistis had that morning finished grading test papers for students. She did it with quick efficiency and quick marks struck down with very little thought or concern. But it was done perfectly none the less. Quistis enjoyed watching this as boring as it was. She liked to notice things that she had in common with Rinoa, if not to feed some of her desire for Squall in a way too complicated to think about. But to feel some pride for her friend, it was true that Rinoa was still who she was, but today she was not so much the damsel in distress she once was, she was not so much the pathetic princess meant to only sweep the knight off of his feet so he might insure her protection.

She deserved more respect now, and more than that she deserved to hear the good news.

"Rinoa?" Quistis called accidentally expressing a timidity that she didn't actually feel.

Rinoa finished marking a paper halfway through the stack in front of her and looked up to Quistis through small rimmed glasses not unlike the ones Quistis herself wore.

"Yes?" she asked looking frozen in time after she spoke.

"I have some really good news," Quistis said letting a small smile break through, a milder version of the kind Rinoa would beam shortly.

"You do?" she did beam then but not the happier one that would no doubt come soon, this was only a small bit of happiness shining through a dank moldy depression, it was the kind of smile that was more for Quistis than it was for Rinoa herself.

"I talked to Raijin earlier," she began but that did not seem to peak the interest she had desired. "And he said that Fujin called him yesterday," and there was the desired reaction Quistis was hoping for.

Rinoas face lit up the way a street light smothered in pigeon shit would. Beginning as a disgusting empty shell but then filling with light as if the pole beneath the bulb were to overflow with the intangible stuff, and the offending matter atop not entirely dissolving but still drying up and flaking away noticeably.

Although Quistis had not yet mentioned what Rinoa was hoping she would she predicted that Quistis would soon, unless if she beat her to it.

"He told me that she was surrounded by a golden light on the night of the graduation and it brought her to Trabia yesterday, she's fine." Quistis shared a sad but rejuvenating smile with Rinoa and was very pleased to notice that Rinoa apparently wasn't thinking about the implications of the phenomenon.

"So Squall is probably okay somewhere?" Rinoa pleaded knowing that Quistis would confirm her positively, and Quistis obliged her.

_Well if you don't take into consideration that we know absolutely nothing about this golden light, and any effects it could have on people that Fujin might have been spared of like all of your fingers and toes sticking out of the back of your neck or something. And the fact that we have no idea where he is even if he was okay and on top of that he probably has no way to contact us unlike Fujin._ Thought Quistis bitterly but made sure her bitterness didn't leak onto her face with the more positive emotions currently designated for that area.

"I'm sure he is," she said honestly and put a hand on Rinoas hand.

And Rinoa promptly threw herself around Quistis and began crying happily on the blondes shoulder accordingly. Although startled at first Quistis happily put her arms around Rinoa and listened to her muffled ranting for her.

They would remain that way for only a few more minutes however. For the unusual half ding half squelching sound the potion incubator made would soon go off and Quistis would be obligated to leave Rinoa for a moment and return to her to resume her comforting. But for the next few minutes at least Rinoa would have a shoulder she was willing to cry on for the first time in a week.

**Arrival**

I now recall a thought I had about three weeks ago, when I first saw Joselyn sleep and the first time I woke her up. I had thought that she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen but then I chocked it up to hormones. Now, I can admit that was only half true.

It is entirely beyond me how anyone including a fine specimen like Joselyn can sleep in this aircraft. This is not an airliner, our inconveniences of comfort are not limited to popping ears –although we are spared screaming children and caffeine addicts who never shut up but I'm not in the mood to pretend that those inconveniences even exist; I'm on a rant here.

She's like a beautiful sloth, if there is such a thing and surely there is. She is looking so very peaceful and content in that constricting harness, in this speeding aircraft so many miles above the ground. I envy her right now because flying is not quite my favorite thing to do. It is not a fear, but I think that if I were to fly I'd rather do it with my own wings.

For the first moment when I watched her sleep I was afraid she was dead. It was an alarming sensation, it was this rush of nausea and electrical currents running through my every fiber and resting mostly in my brain and my stomach. It was so uncomfortable. And it was so sudden that the grief itself didn't have time to register for I saw her breathing after that moment.

Her hair is still braided the way it was earlier today. Rather than the larger braids stacked in the back she has three thin ones on the left side of her face. The hair that is normally braided in large ropes is loose now and resembles a wavy wedding veil thrown away from her face.

And now I want to chew off my toes because I just pictured Joselyn wearing a wedding veil. Being a teenager is too weird; I can't wait for it to end.

Surely Cody is grinning at me right now while I stare at Joselyn. And for all I know Savior could be doing the same thing under that goggle of his. But I'm not so sure that I care anymore. It's obviously no secret to him now how I feel about this girl. But she will never be with me, so I hate and wonder at that grin of his. The fool must think that I'm wrong. Joselyn won't want me; nobody wants to fuck a corpse.

Or nobody I'd be interested in anyway. Which is perhaps shallow on my part but I really don't want to consider that.

I'm not even going to bother to look at him. He'll start our inevitable conversation soon enough. And whether Savior is sleeping or not –it's impossible to tell- we're going to talk about her and I'll say things that I wouldn't even tell her.

"So how have you two been doing?" Cody asks finally, trying to drag some details of _something_ out of me, he's flashing that knowing smile that seems to say not that he knows what I do know but what I do not know.

Who ever said B-Gardens nice guy was beyond being annoying?

"Fine," I answer as I always do so of course he will continue as he always does.

"What's been so fine?" Knew it.

"Oh," I began intentionally sounding more uncertain than I really am.

That line always works on me and I just don't know why I just shut up when he uses it. I of course stall for time at first since that is what is necessary after being asked that. As if I were not embarrassed enough at this point once he asks me that I immediately come up with a dozen things that were fine or better. Mostly they're better in my opinion but I don't think that Cody has the mind to distinguish those things.

I always know what I want to say. And that of course bothers me more than anything else about this. It gets to the point where I really want to tell him. I want to talk about this. I have found that crushes and perhaps other aspects of romances is not the sort of thing that can entirely be kept to yourself. You will want to complain or you will want to brag or something.

Mostly I just wish.

I suppose that I'll just tell him. He would get it out of me eventually anyway I suppose. I look him straight in the eye and smile.

"She smells like Winterfresh," I whisper but audibly, but hopefully not audibly to Joselyn, I really, really don't want her to be pretending to be asleep now that I'm giving in.

Cody makes a face, "Winterfresh? You mean the gum?" I laugh a bit at that and I don't even try to stop myself.

"Kinda, but it's colder and not quite as sweet," I say quietly and turn my head back to Joselyn.

I almost feel like I said it to her more than I did to Cody, and I'm sure that he noticed that.

It's funny how easily I forgot that Savior is sitting right across from Joselyn and is probably listening to all of this.

There's a jerk in the machine and we stop suddenly. It was the air brakes I think. I didn't experience this before since I missed the landing of my Whelp on our field exam and since we don't worry about attack when we're in the Garden simply slowing down is preferable. Or it at least that's what I think; I am not the engineer after all.

We descend and my ears are relieved. Joselyn wakes up beside me and yawns very widely and I'm almost embarrassed to be looking into her mouth like this. She casts her sleepy gaze on to me and smiles.

"Are we there yet," she asks sleepily then yawns again, but this time much smaller.

Instead of me, the air craft answers her back making a very abrupt stop on the ground beneath us. Our restraints are removed automatically and the hatch opens immediately. Apparently this is a newer model. I seem to remember that was a problem a while ago.

Joselyn and Savior are the first to depart from the machine followed by Cody and I. And now comes the time for all of us to restore the feeling in our asses.

_**EG**_

The quartet exited the vessel gracefully then waited for it to land so they could retrieve their luggage. Each of the teenagers behaved slightly differently, Savior noticed. The girl looked the most impatient –which, despite his acceptable respect for women- Savior thought was typical. She was tapping her feet and squinting at the Whelp for another reason that was obviously not the waves of heat and air it was giving off. Highwind looked very eager to retrieve his things but seemed to be in no hurry. And Grave looked the way Savior himself looked, mostly uninterested in the whole deal.

Perhaps it was because they both had minimal amounts of things packed. Or perhaps it was because they both had certain women on their minds. Based on the way Grave was speaking about his taller comrade he thought that was right.

Really Savior didn't care about the relationships of others. Relationships that were not his were none of his concern. For a relationship that was his required _all_ of his concern. Abgestossen was clearly Graves constant subject just as Quistis was his own.

Ever since the night of the inauguration Quistis' ability to manipulate Savior had skyrocketed. Although manipulation might not have been quite the right word it was the only one that Savior thought was suitable. The woman needed now was a watch to wave in front of his eyes and some archaic incantation to recite and the package would be complete.

She would lure him into her room when he had free time at night. And even a few times when he didn't but he chose not to tell her. The lectures from Xu were easily endured when considering the boring job he'd be doing if he obeyed her –her being Xu.

Mostly they only talked. At first they had tried to imitate pillow talk but with his head gear he had looked too funny for Quistis to keep her straight face. At which point he opted to sit upright on the other side of her bed. She had protested and told him that she would stop laughing –whilst giggling of course so her pleading was not met successfully- but Savior refused and after that he had selected the same spot for their conversations.

He wanted to think that she'd be sleeping with him even though that idea was pretty much ludicrous. Sure, they _could_ do it. But it would be too hilarious, neither one would even be in the mood two minutes into it. They would be in the middle of learning one another's curves and movements, and he all the while would still be wearing his helmet.

Because he wasn't going to take off his helmet.

And that of course was still Quistis' number one concern. Although she was happy to have his company more often –and now his skin when she saw fit, or when he was pathetic enough for her- she was still most concerned about his identity. Even when he or she was speaking about something else he could read that curiosity on her face. The woman was absolutely transparent.

He wanted badly to show her and at the same time he didn't with equal aspiration but many more reasons. He wanted for her to see him as much as he didn't want to show his face, but without his mask he would lose his position, and without his position he wouldn't be able to see her at all.

Contrary to PesticidE nature, Savior didn't notice at first when the Whelp landed and when the SeeD's took their things. Instead, Highwind had to get his attention and remind him. He reached in the compartment and swung his bag from it and closed the hatch. He slapped the back of the machine audibly like it was a taxi then backed up. Zell began take off and if Savior didn't know any better he'd say that Zell had given them the thumbs up.

But then Zell probably had done that. For Savior in his own opinion knew very little about Zell Dintch. And perhaps he was right.

The whelp flew away and was soon forgotten for the excitement of the mission. Savior threw down his bag immediately and unzipped it. As he proceeded to empty the contents he received weird looks from each teenager. From experience alone he knew they were doing this, for that was what every team did on their first mission. Without looking up he explained.

"I can't just go waltzing in there dressed like this; I'll be recognized as a B-Garden soldier and that can't happen."

"So what are you going to wear instead?" asked Highwind.

"This," he said a certain amount of distaste that was hidden entirely by his mouth piece and held up the item.

It was a large one piece black stealth suit tailored for Savior. It looked like the hide of a man-shaped waxed seal hide, shiny and black. It sported the same sort of mouth piece his normal uniform did but a smaller one. It also had an unnecessary left goggle which Savior thought was the out fits one redeeming quality. He really didn't like it, he felt like some dominatrix pervert when donning the thing.

"So you'll be sneaking around in that thing?" asked Cody sounding dorkishly eager.

"Yes," Savior deadpanned and dropped the garment unceremoniously like he might a pair of stiff socks spent too long beneath the bed.

"So you're like a ninja," Cody exclaimed with much noticeable approving.

Savior had honestly never thought of it that way. But when one considered the outfit and the activity he would be partaking he supposed he wouldn't be _unlike_ a ninja.

He decided that he didn't need to give that any real thought so he didn't bother to reply to Highwind.

"You know where to go. I'll catch up with you by tonight. You'll know I'm there when I want you to know."

With that the SeeDs nodded and made their way to the city. Behind them Savior changed into his disappointing outfit and put his preferred uniform into his bag. He would be there by night time.

**The First Night**

Deling City is a sight to behold. Although fewer of the buildings are enormous as one might expect from such a large and notorious city it looks grand nonetheless. The buses run day and night, the city lights make up for lack of sun in the darkness as if the city had a sun within itself, and every street and alley is permeated with a smell that can only be described as hot steel and garbage juice.

I am not particularly taken with this city but I can still recognize the virtues that draw others to it. Joselyn and Cody are completely different and to different degrees just as I had expected. Joselyn is literally spinning around to take everything in and if not for Cody and I standing on either side of her she would have run into many a person and even more muggers –of course that would not matter since all of our pockets are empty and our bags have locks on them.

Cody is more ecstatic than I am but not so much as Joselyn. He pays much attention with his eyes on the sites –the architecture, and body parts of interest respectively- and seems to not need his eyes to stop Joselyn when she's about to encounter someone from behind again.

I always thought when I was younger that I would be behaving the way Cody is and with him –although back then this make up either didn't exist or was simply unknown to me so I never thought I'd go at all- but I'm finding myself averting my eyes from the sights and keeping them where they always seem to land now.

Joselyn's body I think is much sweeter to the eyes than anything else I'll find in this city. And that is not only because I wouldn't look in this city very much anyway since that is thanks in part to Joselyn. It's perhaps an infinite loop. If it is a loop to begin with, I'm not really thinking about this very much.

She changed into a trench coat after we left Savior outside of the city. It's blue and the sleeves are rolled up, she said that she doesn't like sleeves when she put the garment on even though neither I nor Cody had asked her anything. I suppose it was something she just wanted us to know. And now ironically the girl who hates skirts so much looks almost like she's wearing one, with the lower part of the coat spinning around her the way a long dress would.

The night may be pleasant but we have to go. Evening is upon us and if we do not show up on time Miss Ostentat will no doubt want to be unreasonable with us. I say this much to my friends and after a few minutes of bugging Joselyn –and simultaneously being bugged by Joselyn- we take the nearest available bus to the Ostentat mansion.

_**EG**_

The Ostentat mansion was a building that was true to its name. Most other buildings in the area –or even the whole city for those who cared to examine that much- were also wonderful structural accomplishments wondered by sight-see'ers and regular passers-by alike. But the Ostantat mansion called much more attention to itself than was really necessary, even for a mansion.

The building itself along with the land around it, the garden, the garage and every other necessity and luxury available that was in and around the mansion took up an entire city block for itself.

The topiary's which suspiciously looked to resemble royalty stood taller than most buildings and even most parts of the mansion. Statues that might have been carbon copies of one another stood atop each pillar and along the walkways –which were countless marbles sealed to one another, made to look like a road of bubbles- and on other parts of the mansion itself. They were the image of a lion with the head of a man, the body was small and the head was the same size with hair that was rounded but limited to give the face a large forehead, and a large moustache was unmistakable.

It took the trio literally one half hour to cross the walkway and reach the main doors. They only knew this because Joselyn became very irritated on the way and went as far as to take her watch from her pocket and time their walk to the doors which Cody had begun to mock as legendary.

When they finally did reach and doors and after Grave managed to revert Joselyn to her milder mannered and rarely seen side Cody knocked on the enormous door. The knocker was the variety of a face holding a ring its mouth. None spoke it, but each teenager noticed that the face was not a gargoyle but the same face seen on the statues of the lion's bodies.

The doors opened promptly and they were met by the face of a butler. A man clearly aged more than those he worked for. His posture was superior even to the teenagers he stood before which suggested a certain pride found in the elderly, but his eyes and face were downcast like a man convinced he was not worthy to look at another human face.

This had occurred to our trio and although they had not quite yet met the Ostentats they found themselves judging them based on the first few seconds they had spent with one employee.

"Greetings, sirs and madam," said the butler eloquently, "you must be the assistance," the SeeDs were pleased to hear the butler was wise enough to use the word 'assistance' rather than blatantly saying Seed, or even mercenary.

"We are," Said Grave and upon hearing that the butler moved to one side of the door and gestured them inside.

The grandness of the main room matched the grandness of the walkway. The entire interior was made of wood glazed a dark brown, the carpets and draperies across the walls in spots where portraits were absent were red and sometimes lined with gold. There were many portraits on the walls above the staircase and lining the inside of it. Each one of a different ancestor and most were dated long ago.

The trio suddenly felt very out of place, and somewhat unwelcome at that.

Once inside they resisted the urge to simply drop their bags on the floor assuming they'd be annoyed by way of scolding from an old woman in the shadows. Instead they nearly dropped their bags upon hearing the loud voice from the young woman standing on the balcony above the duel stairways.

"You've arrived!" the voice was that of a girl who had been taught to speak 'properly,' and who loved it.

Upon examining her she decidedly had a body and garments to match her voice. They had not had a good look at her yet but she was dressed appropriately, a red dress stopping at her knees adorned with a design that was foreign and pretty but probably inappropriate for a Galbadian.

"You must be the hired help. Geeve's," she snapped her fingers upon saying the name that was undoubtedly the butlers. "Take their bags and bring them to their rooms," the butler tapped Cody on the shoulder and startled them all, having seemed to re-materialize after being summoned.

They handed him each of their bags and were a bit surprised when he took them away with minimal effort but their eyes were taken away soon by the young woman again. She was descending the stairs and they now had a better look at her. With every step she took Cody and Grave looked more interested, and Joselyn was increasingly worried.

"You're right on time too, we appreciate that very much here," her fingers slid across the banister as if they were oiled and they probably were Joselyn thought, her feet touching each step very carefully but quickly for she was impatient to meet her new protectors.

She approached them with a self assured gait which in Joselyn's opinion was more of a sluttish strut but that might have been her more offensive judgment speaking. In fact she was pretty sure it was since the girls eyes seemed to be fixed on Grave more than she and Cody.

Joselyn felt like hissing but she didn't do it.

The garments she was wearing Joselyn recognized were Trabian. They were the kind of ceremonial garments that the Shumis wore for their holidays. The girl herself looked alarmingly like Dr. Heartilly. A younger version of the doctor but with shorter hair and larger eyes… _and a sluttier strut_ added Joselyn silently.

"Daddy they've arrived!" she called over her shoulder to a smaller door located under the staircase, it was likely a study, or more likely a whole damn library.

"Well," she said turning back to her new guests and claiming their full attention once more. "My name is Cornucopia Ostantat," she said unnecessarily gesturing to herself by placing her fingertips against her collar bone.

Without giving them the attention to introduce themselves to her appropriately she stepped to one side and gave each of them a once over whilst walking along them like a sergeant might his privates. Joselyn noted intently that she actually gave Grave a twice over and with a smile that Joselyn found far too predatory for her to be comfortable with.

She moved back to Cody after looking over Joselyn with much disinterest and finally showed curiosity as to their identities.

"And you are?" she asked Cody superiorly.

"Cody Highwind, Miss Ostentat." Cody said politely and offered one hand to the young girl who took it but did not shake it, Cody understood instantly and descended his head as if to bow and touched his lips to her knuckles briefly.

Cornucopia was immensely pleased then moved on to Grave before Cody finished elevating his head.

"My name is Grave," he said bluntly and that shook Cornucopia for a moment, but her interest in him shone through quickly and she seemed to forget about it once his mouth was closed again, Grave did not offer her his hand.

"I'm charmed," she said sincerely and kept her eyes on him even as she was moving on to Joselyn.

"And you," Cornucopia asked looking suddenly bored, Joselyn almost scowled at the girl but her better judgment –or perhaps some words of warning using Graves voice in her head- kept her from slipping her etiquette and she curtsied for the girl using her trench coat like a skirt to complete the motion.

"Joselyn Abgestossen," she said slowly so the girl might catch each sound value and she elevated herself above the young girl's height once more.

By the time she meant to look the girl in the eye again she had moved away and therefore ruined the stare of impending warning that Joselyn had meant for her to see. Against Graves voice/her better judgment she was about to say something to the girl but he was interrupted by a more adult and male voice too quickly.

"The SeeDs are here wonderful!" The door to which Cornucopia had called to flung open and the face the SeeDs saw probably should have alarmed them, but they just could not summon that alarm.

The father had the very same face that had been on the gargoyles and the knocker. But on those statues they had seen grim and serious faces, this man was smiling and very much so. So much that the expressions they had seen before looked so much like fabrications brought on my arrogance… and some other word that they could not think of but still weighed quite heavily on their minds.

"And you're on time," he said and put one arm around his daughters shoulder who reciprocated unusually happily for a teenage girl who was being touched by her father.

Joselyn wanted to match the mans eyes but the eyes of his daughter seemed to be locked on Grave and his various exterior virtues and so Joselyn was having a hard time looking intently away from her.

It was a good thing Cody was there to make up for her.

"Is it alright if we went to our room's sir? We're very tired after traveling over your walkway," Cody quipped and luckily got a laugh from Mr. Ostantat.

"Of course my boy, Geeve's," he snapped his fingers as his daughter had before. "Show our guests to their rooms," he moved his eyes back over the SeeDs. "You will begin your work tomorrow but for tonight you may rest. We will speak properly in the morning."

Geeve's manifested behind them once more and after they had their moments to be startled he led them on the expedition to their rooms.

_**EG**_

Now that I've arrived in my room, now that I've dropped my bag carelessly on the floor somewhere, now that I'm half laying on the couch and half laying on the floor because I'm too lazy to make myself entirely comfortable, I realize how lonely I felt once Joselyn and Cody went to their own rooms.

I am also realizing that I smell very, very gross. And I'm also noticing an absence of other odors that I originally thought were me but I now realize were my comrades. I suppose we all need a shower now, especially after that long walk we had.

I'm of course referring to the walk to our rooms.

The Ostentat's clearly don't understand the meaning of subtlety. And they don't quite know when to stop either. Cornucopia wouldn't stop looking at me funny; I think she had something in her eyes. Perhaps she was trying to imply that she wanted me to take it out but that's just absurd. Although I don't think I'd put it past a girl to do something that weird.

But that's probably biased of me since my only references of women are Quistis and Joselyn. And they would probably consider it an insult on my part to refer to either of them that way.

Joselyn in particular, she doesn't really strike me as the type of girl who would try to get attention from a guy by applying inane little gestures to flirting. And now that I think of it I might not notice it even if she did. There's an unfamiliar knock at the door.

"Grave?" asks a voice that sounds much like Joselyn's, well, think of the devil…

"Come in, I haven't passed out yet."

She opens the door and staggers into my room. She's smiling as best she can for my quip but it's probably more for friendliness than humor. She's probably too tired to laugh. She stops in front of the couch, then wavers, she starts swinging her arms in circles in a cartoon fashion more for show than for the sake of staying on her feet and she falls beside me on the couch. She adjusts herself until she's lying on her side and facing me, she has one arm wrapped around her head and I could see both of her eyes if I bothered to turn my head.

Joselyn says nothing for a long time and I expect that she's fallen asleep on the couch. I siphon what strength I have into my neck and I turn it to face her. She is not in fact asleep but she is looking about as tired as I feel.

Hyne she's pretty, even when she's melting from fatigue she's pretty.

She says something but I don't catch it.

"What's that?" I ask.

"I said I want to ask you something," she says quietly and carefully, I have a sinking feeling that she's been preparing this but isn't sure about herself.

"I just wanted to know…" she catches her breath in her throat and bites her lower lip cutely and looks out the corner of her eye.

"What is it?" I ask softly, hoping that will coax her question out of her.

"I was wondering if, you were going to wear that make up all the time now," she sounds very worried and I can't imagine why.

I have not thought about that actually, not for a moment. But now that she mentions that I'm not sure. Perhaps I could do it, but Garden probably wouldn't permit me to wear the stuff outside of a mission. But perhaps I could get Quistis to get around that if I asked her too, although she'd probably give me a lecture about how I shouldn't be unhappy about the way I look.

And this of course would be coming from a woman who spends thirty minutes preparing her hair in the morning. I only know this from late night study sessions.

I admit that I liked the way the people in Deling looked at me though. And I especially like they way they _didn't_ look at me. Like people thought of me like I was normal, or like they didn't think of me at all because I didn't stand out.

I understand that the appearance shouldn't be what matters but I felt different on the inside too. On the outside I felt different because I had this make up on but that is strictly physical and probably doesn't quite count. Ultimately I think that I prefer myself covered up.

Is this how women feel…? Women who wear this stuff, that is?

I do prefer feeling normal, I do like the way I was acknowledged and ignored today. But I don't like they way Joselyn is looking at me right now. I think she's worried and I'm sure that she doesn't want me to think this way. But she can't change the way I think.

"I'm not sure," I respond and she does not look happy, but she says nothing else so I think that she will let me off temporarily.

She scoots her upper body closer to me and she closes her eyes. I almost ask her if she wants me to take her to her room but her breathing changes and I know that she is asleep already. I should probably be a gentleman and wake her up and walk her to her room… but a gentleman wouldn't wake up a girl when she's sleeping peacefully now would he?

I like loopholes.

I can't say that I am asleep for I have never been able to tell when that happens. But soon I will be asleep, and soon my breathing will steady with Joselyn's and perhaps I can drink these free exhales of hers while she is beside for this brief time.

**Reunion**

_**It was just as Squall remembered it although some minor things had changed. The Tomb of the Unknown King had continued to collapse as ruins do. Particularly the ones that were as watery as this one. The cracks in the stone were deeper and more numerous, and spread further across the floors and walls and ceilings like a spider web-shaped crack in a wind shield.**_

_**The corpse of the unfortunate swordsman who Squall had to identify three years ago was still there and in the same sort of condition as the tomb in Squalls eyes. He was worse but did not look entirely different.**_

_**As he effortlessly ignored the scenery Squall wondered where Seifer and Quistis were. He had seemed to fall into a pattern where he would be watching them in each dream more than he would anybody else.**_

_**The first two dreams he had decided were mostly if not completely absurdity and perhaps even silliness. He knew that they had not been in that bar in Timber, and he knew that Edea did not take care of anyone in a mansion and certainly Rinoa had not been near any of them until their mission in Timber three years ago.**_

_**But there was something about the last two that struck Squall as genuine. There was no known evidence to challenge that Seifer had ever been in Winhil or the D-District Prison. And there was certainly nothing to contradict that Seifer and Quistis had known each other before the orphanage and that Seifers father had been a raving loony.**_

_**He wanted badly to believe it because it seemed very real to him. He wondered if these things had really happened and he absently wondered if there was any truth to the first two dreams.**_

_**A drop of water and dissolved stone fell from the ceiling and past through Squall like the apparition he currently was.**_

_**In answer to his question he heard foot steps behind him, and once he turned around he saw that there was no sign of Seifer but Quistis was certainly there. Their appearances weren't certain at first for their figures only looked liked stand out lines in the darkness but as they moved closer their images were manifest. Beside her was a tall PesticidE, and at his side a familiar sword that was shaped much like an exacto knife.**_

_**Recognizing Savior Squall wondered only for a moment if it was him. For the only Savior characteristic he didn't see was the tell tale –or rather keep quiet- swirl of polystyrene where his left eye goggle was meant to be. But that moment was short lived and he remembered the report from a mission from not more than a year ago.**_

"_**Look Quistis we've been over this, the Moogle Scouts will all inevitably grow up to be gay," Savior said while unknowingly a fraction of respect from Squall when he did, and knowingly losing more than a fraction of respect from Quistis beside him.**_

"_**They ARE not," Quistis exclaims loudly enough that Squall is surprised the tomb doesn't collapse from the sound, and from the way Savior had flinched while away from Quistis' field of vision Squall thought that he had been thinking the same thing.**_

_**But Savior quickly recovered and so continued his inane rant.**_

"_**Of course they are! First of all…" Savior began his counting fingers gesture but Quistis interrupted him once again shaking fear through him the way she shook vibrations through the brittle walls, floor and ceiling.**_

"_**I know! I've heard it all!" She began to mimic his same gestures and even shifted to speaking in a mock bee hive tone. "They wear short shorts, and those strange scarf things –the name of which you can never remember- they spend suspiciously long sessions sewing…"**_

"_**And the pom poms! They actually wear pom poms!" Savior exclaimed interrupting Quistis' interruption/interpretation.**_

_**Another heavy drop of water and dissolved stone fell, this time closer to the oncoming pair.**_

"_**Would you prefer feathers?" Quistis asked half seriously amidst the banter that would have been pointless if not for the lack of activity.**_

"_**A little bit yes," he said pointedly "They would be more…" he gestured un-sureness by spinning one wrist as if to will the cogs in his brain to turn faster.**_

"_**Masculine," Quistis asked sarcastically and grinned the way she imagined he did to her very often.**_

"… _**Less stupid" he said trying to pretend that she had not answered correctly and knowing that he had failed.**_

"_**Right." Quistis dragged out winningly.**_

"_**All I'm saying is that they may as well have interior decorating workshop 'cause then they'd be getting the perfect work experience at a young age."**_

"_**I can't believe I'm hearing this from somebody as cerebral as you," she said shaking her head but still smiling comfortably.**_

_**And then a third drop fell from the ceiling.**_

"_**Hey what's that supposed to -SHIT, QUISTIS!"**_

_**The third drop had activated a trap but they noticed too late. It was a brick shaped stone that the drop had struck, one that like the rest of the stones did not stand out unless if it was adjusted like it was now. It moaned as it scraped against the stone and fluid and stopped at once when a clicking sound sounded.**_

_**This was of course one of those moments when you cannot move. As if fate is holding you by whatever extremities you have been endowed with and will not let go until its plan comes through.**_

_**It was in this way Quistis' ovaries had been clutched and so she did not move. A clinking sound that reminded Squall of dominos sounded from the floor and around the wall until it stopped at the ceiling and once it stopped a slab of stone swung from the ceiling and out flipped a small un-healthy looking spike.**_

_**Savior didn't see it. He only saw Quistis paralyzed in the swinging objects path and so he lunged at her back and forced her to crouch.**_

_**And the spike impaled itself directly through Saviors left eye goggle.**_

_**Squall distinctly remembered that in the mission report from the pair it stated that Savior had lost his eye from a monster in one of those encounters they always had -those monsters which seemed to materialize sometimes making the fights seem like they were random or something absurd like that.**_

_**He didn't understand why they had lied to him. It was not as if this would have made any difference had they simply told the truth. Perhaps it had been for the sake of Saviors reputation but then again Savior never did seem too concerned about that.**_

_**He would ask them, he decided. He was clearly asleep now; once he awoke he would find the nearest contact to Garden that he could –unless if he was unfortunate enough to awaken in Galbadia or someplace, he was sure that it wouldn't be the Garden since he felt as if he had been transported when the golden sparks had surrounded him.**_

_**One could almost hear a distinct sounding tone coming from Saviors helmet when he screamed. But any amount of hope of discovering his identity that Quistis might have had was obviously crushed for the distinction was not profound enough for one to identify him.**_

_**Even through pain of permanent injury Savior refused to remove his helmet. It was then Squall began to understand how important Saviors position was to him. He had admittedly never given it much thought though, really Squall had just been grateful for the mans presence with B-Garden and that he thought was enough to offer the man. Squall was sure that he would have cracked under the pressure, had Squall been Savior his secret identity would have instantly been forfeit.**_

_**Quistis tore a very generous amount of her skirt from her legs and resorted to stuffing it directly into the helmet and she advised Savior to keep putting pressure on it. And as she contacted the Garden with the large communicator she kept on her person the scene of Squalls dream shifted.**_

_**It was not unlike the method of special effect that might have been employed had this been a scene in a movie. Every little dot of color swirled like a cloudy whirlwind of whipped cream and a hundred thousand grains of sugar each one dyed a different color and a different shade. As it was happening Squall couldn't tell for the life of him if he was spinning with it or if he was only feeling dizzy by simply watching it happen.**_

_**He was now in the B-Garden Infirmary. He was outside of the stall that he had been treated in three years ago after his scar dueling with Seifer. Inside he heard the voices of Savior –if it could indeed be called a voice, Squall himself was pretending for the sake of convenience that it could- and Dr. Kadowaki. Her silhouette bent down over a make shift table and Squall could tell that she was signing something, and Squall knew what it was.**_

_**This was something that actually had been reported to him truthfully. Normally it was Xu who would take care of any medical issues with the PesticidE's since she was responsible for them. Savior's condition unfortunately called for a higher caliber of doctor and so he had been given a private surgery with her and her nurses. **_

_**This meant that before this surgery even Dr. Kadowaki had never seen Saviors actual face and now that she had been forced to she had to sign a document that she would never convey the information of his identity to anyone even under any threat. Everyone but Xu and fellow PesticidE's were required to sign this document when they learned a PesticidE's identity.**_

_**The scene shifted to darkness and Squall awoke.**_

_He awoke to the same shade of black. He awoke standing which only startled him at first and then at once he was startled by the scenery. He thought that the blackness had awoken to was only due to having his eyes closed for an undisclosed amount of time. But apparently the area was only blackness. _

_Once Squall took a breath he decided that he must still be in a dream. For only if her were in space would the blackness make sense but no where on the planet could it. He felt like he was standing and amidst the darkness he could see his hands as if he were in clear and present day time._

_He was lost, he knew it, and the worst part was that it wasn't even his fault that he was lost. He wanted to run or to shout but there would be no benefit from that, he wanted help for once even if it were from Laguna…_

…_actually Laguna would probably look at the situation even or worse –or worse yet he'd look at it optimistically- so that was out and he refused to think about it a moment longer._

"_You shouldn't think that way about your father Squall."_

_Squall spun, and for reasons unknown but feelings profound he was relieved. His big sister had always had that effect on him._

"_Ellone!" he almost yelled and at the same time descended his brows into his puppy dog look –as referred by the women it was designated to- designated for Ellone and Rinoa._

_It was one of those nick names that you tried to not complain about and resented almost as much as you loved your tormentors, almost._

_Ellone stood somehow just as he was not three feet away from him. Dressed as she often was and looking happy despite their circumstances. She rushed to him before he could to her and leaped onto him as Rinoa might -minus of course kisses on the neck and lips and a hand on his ass. She felt surprisingly real, and she sounded surprisingly real although this place was obviously not entirely tangible._

"_I'm so glad I found you, I lost track of you a while ago and I was worried," she said cryptically and clearly into his shoulder, and Squall became puzzled then._

"_Lost track of me, what do you…?" And in mid sentence he realized it._

_Ellone was showing him dreams again. It all made sense now, except perhaps for the first two which struck him mostly as nonsense. But the last two and the one he had awoken from just now made infinitely more sense. These were not the sort of dreams a person just had. These were only likely to be real events, and without Ellone such dreams were very, very improbable to conceive, especially in the succession that Squall had been having them in._

"_You've been showing me the past again," he moved her away from him just a bit by her shoulders and stated this certainly and his sister nodded, "Why?" he asked not as admonishingly as Ellone had expected._

"_I had a feeling that I needed to show you those things. Especially that last one, you were thinking how they reported falsely to you?" she asked changing the subject slightly but only for a moment and broke away from him._

"_Yeah that's true, but you could have asked me, I would have let you do it," he said thinking he was being kind and reasonable but that notion was quickly crushed when Ellone scrunched a small unoffending scowl on her forehead and spoke louder._

"_But we can't contact you since you never station anywhere!" she threw her arms in the air much the way Quistis did, and as she did this Squall wondered for a moment if it was from Sis that Quistis had acquired that habit of gesture._

_Squall recoiled for a moment and remained quiet until his sister calmed down and gave him the face saying that she was sorry for out-bursting. Her scowl had meant little in the past three years after the heroes had become re-acquainted with it. When they were children it had given her a certain amount of authority even over Seifer, but now it was more amusing or cute than it was threatening or authoritative. Before she could voice that she had Squall held one palm up and spoke._

"_It's alright Sis, I just don't want to see Laguna. I know I'm being selfish about this but I _was_ planning on visiting Esthar soon since we were running low on supplies," he paused for a moment and made sure to hang on to her gaze. "And because I really wanted to see you," he added at the last second thinking then that it was a good idea to mention it._

_Ellone smiled and sneered knowing that he had only thought of visiting her just now, now that he was in front of her –even though it was strictly in a mental sense- but she instantly forgave him not only because he was her brother, but because he was after all, a man._

"_I have more dreams to show you Squall," she said quietly yet again changing the subject but this time permanently._

"_Alright," he said with somewhat of a high note in his voice._

"_I'll tell everyone where you are soon Squall. Good bye," and with that she gave him a peck on the cheek and once again he awoke._

_**EG**_

Before he opened his eyes, before he even registered the pain of his neck being forced as it was in a painful position against the beaten dirt path Squall recognized the smell of clarified air that was unique to Winhil.

Perhaps it was also unique to the highest peaks and the most efficient surgical rooms where the air was replaced every half second or so but as far as Squall was concerned it was unique to Winhil. He had never been in another place that felt quite so pure of smog and poison. The thickest scent that a person would normally think that clung in Winhils air was probably the oatmeal cookies, or the smoke from an old mans corncob pipe whilst he creaked peacefully in a rocking chair as old as he.

Squall himself was pretty sure it was actually the chocobo manure.

Right after he recognized the pain in his neck he recognized the sensation of something on his face that was warm and soft… and wet, too wet. Then he recognized the smell but instead of jumping and cursing and throwing the shit from his cheek he just lay there a little longer thinking, 'Is it any wonder?'

Somebody had probably dragged his body into the field and thrown him face first into the manure because the quack thought that is was part of Squalls destiny he thought bitterly. More annoying things had been done to him; more annoying burdens had been placed on his shoulder because of something that _somebody else_ saw fit to do about his life.

Squall had never been concerned about other people hurting him, not really. He only used that excuse back in his recluse days because that was the average excuse for lone wolf-hood was, and he didn't care enough back then to decide why he was really doing it.

Aside from being taught how to be a mercenary and aside from taking orders from the highest bidder and his superiors respectively –back when he _had_ a superior that is- Squall did not like to be fucked around with. Every day since he had been assigned the Commander position he regretted going along with it, and every second since he accepted the Headmaster position he regretted accepting it. Squall had never been a willing leader.

And now he was nose deep in Chocobo crap.

With an incredible kind of dignity that, if it had mystical properties might have caused the shit to simply slide of his face, he pushed himself up from the ground then gathered as much shit in his hand as he could and he threw it back on the pile at his feet. He looked at his clothes and sighed quickly in relief when he saw that none of the matter had made it to his collar or the leather.

Squall pivoted on one foot, sending speckles of shit off of his face and onto the grazing grass. He passed through the field –carefully examining his path for other brown piles- and passed through the section of fence that had been torn down by something.

As he passed the item store, the church and some of the houses Squall kept deciding over and over that he shouldn't enter whatever building he was at the moment examining. The item store didn't have a public sink, and holy water was out of the question…

Ignorant of the river he passed over the bridge and began renewed speculation of the square for he had not visited this town for quite a long time.

The place looked rather deserted but obviously wasn't. People could be seen through the windows and he could hear children playing in the waters. And that refreshing and mouth watering smell of honey oatmeal cookies was passing through the methane smell and into his nose like a blast of soap through a dirt mound.

Squall decided that he would need to buy about a dozen of those cookies after he washed off his face. He had not yet completed his first step when a familiar flicker of gold caught his attention from behind him.

Although he could not see it he could feel it. The energy almost _felt_ golden in the same way caramel or butterscotch tasted of the color. It was really only his brain creating a ridiculous definition for lack of a better way of putting it but that was just fine.

The feeling of gold in his spine crawled up then vanished as quickly as it had arrived. At first he feared that he would be transported again. Galbadia was certainly not on his list of friendly places but he could just as easily end up at the bottom of the ocean, on the _outside_ of the Deep Sea Research Center not that being on the inside would make much of a difference concerning his survival.

But no, Squall could feel it, true, but he did not feel it the same way. He felt it like it was only a wave or a spark jumping from a point of origin away from his body. He was not being sent away again, somebody else was arriving.

Squall turned around and embarrassingly enough did not forget that his face was covered in manure. Hyne, he hoped it wasn't Almasy; the fucker would no doubt never stop laughing.

The crackle and bright lights of gold fizzled and faded and then the arriver stood with a turned back to Squall. The new person stood in the middle of the bridge, and once composure had been regained the person didn't seem entirely disappointed about the arrival.

The figure turned around as if assessing the situation and instantly caught their own attention of Squall.

Suddenly, Squall wished it had been Almasy.

"Squall?"

_I though I had Carpal Tunnel a while ago, can't imagine why._


	7. The Mission

_Disclaimer and A/N: Sorry that I forgot to reply to a couple of you last time, I'm making up for it now. I would like to apologize for failing to announce that it's winter in previous chapters, I shall try to make up for my ignorance with this one. I don't own final fantasy 8, Britain, the wonder twins, star trek, or any jokes made about the wonder twins._

_I broke you in the canyon_

_I drowned you in the lake_

_You a snake that I would trample_

_Only thing I'd not embrace_

_Oh, you couldn't dam that river_

_And maybe I don't give a damn anyway_

_So you couldn't damn that river_

_And it washed me so far away_

_I pushed and then you stumbled_

_I kicked you in the face_

_You stare at me so hollow_

_Got to keep that killin' pace_

_Oh, you couldn't dam that river_

_And maybe I don't give a damn anyway_

_So you couldn't damn that river_

_And it washed me so far away_

_I burned the place around you_

_I hit you with a rake_

_You piss upon my candle_

_So proving you're a fake_

_Dam That River by Alice in Chains_

**Part Seven: The Mission**

**I wish It Was Almasy**

It had to be Laguna didn't it? Squall thought begrudgingly. It couldn't be Rinoa of course for that would be a genuine blessing. It couldn't be any of the other heroes perhaps Irvine or Quistis. I couldn't even be Selphie, she would at least be tolerable for maybe an hour, and it couldn't even be his missing blonde nemesis. Who would have been tolerable for maybe two hours after the initial quarrel.

No, consistent to Squalls particular brand of good yet unpleasant luck he was now forced into the company of the worlds goofiest buffoon, the world's luckiest imbecile. He was the only man in his own country who wore khaki's and a Hawaiian shirt to work.

Perhaps five feet from Squall stood his father Laguna Loire. He looked as puzzled as Squall felt annoyed and predictably, the first thing on his mind was _not_ the most important of issues at the time.

"Son why is there shit on your face?" Laguna asked worriedly not yet choosing to approach his ungrateful offspring.

Squall sighed and rolled his eyes. It really was no surprise, ever since Laguna had told Squall about their… connection; he had felt the need to pamper him to an extent. Although he had clearly just been transported from work the first thing on his mind had shifted instantly to his son's condition once he became aware about his sons presence. This was perhaps the most profound and genuine case of attention deficit disorder the planet had to offer.

One occasion included –and was not limited to- the one time when his comrades and even his inferiors in rank had become pissed at him for turning down. This was when Laguna had offered to assist them in their conflict against Galbadia, it was the only time he had been genuinely scared of his friends when he resented to offer. Selphie actually threw a plate at him, and Quistis did worse than that –she lectured him.

His friends had thankfully been coaxed when Laguna said that the offer still stood regardless of his son's resentment. Although it was an unreliable glimmer of hope his friends had actually sighed in relief when he said that. He knew they hoped that they could convince him the help was sorely needed and how foolish it was of him to turn it down because of such a frivolous grudge etc, etc, etc…

Secretly, Squall had been planning to give in eventually. He knew it was foolish to turn down the help of the entire Estharian army when opposed to by the entire Galbadian army. But from the way things currently were he thought that he could get away with indulging his so-called frivolous grudge, even if he wasn't indulging in it indefinitely.

He would wait until it was really necessary, once the Galbadians had found their ever moving location or once he was satisfied with the resistance that B-Garden itself could put up then he would have given in and contacted Esthar for the much needed help. But the time when that was necessary had not yet come, and so Squall had not yet given in.

Squall gave his father a level stare and decided that he would dignify the question with a response. Instead he thought he should call attention to actual pressing matters. Matters like the teleportation that both of them had now been subject to.

"Laguna, shouldn't you be more worried about the golden light that no doubt removed you from your office and brought you here in an instant?" Squall said elaborately and maintained his level stare whilst his father caught up with him.

"Huh?" he asked stupidly.

Or not.

"You were just in your office weren't you?" Squall asked doing a remarkable job of sounding patient when he thought he was being unpleasant.

Or maybe his fathers pampering of him had created in him a tolerance or even an acceptance of his son's acidic attitude. Perhaps he was sounding very indignant but Laguna had put him on so high a pedestal that he couldn't even hear when his on was being mean to him.

"Um, yes, yes I was," said Laguna suddenly regaining some dignity that Squall thought he didn't actually have available to him.

"And now you're in Winhil," finished Squall, and then his father took the time to examine the area around him and the astonishment on his face was almost admirable.

"By golly you're right! What are we doing here?" Laguna chose this moment of minor enlightenment to leave the bridge and stand in front of his son.

"Well I'm wondering what the hell that golden light was and why it's moved us here." Squall said with all the sarcasm of a seasoned adolescent but Laguna was ignorant of it.

"Yeah, that is really curious isn't it?" Laguna said quietly but soon looked distracted by Squalls face again, "You really should clean your face right now Squall, Chocobo manure is really bad for the skin." Squall raised a questioning eyebrow when Laguna properly guessed the brand of fecal matter he was smeared with and Laguna recognized that.

"Don't ask how I know," he said quickly and then he urged Squall more to find a place to wash up.

Both of the men were now ignorant of the river under the bridge and so Squall entered the café that he had taken interest in and Laguna followed behind like an owner who had lost the grip of his dog's leash.

Upon their entrance the waitress working the counter looked up from the pad of paper she was reading, over the cat's eye glasses perched on her nose and examined the pair in front of her. At first she said nothing, as if she was giving them time to explain why the younger one was smeared with smelly.

"He tripped," "I tripped," they said in unison and then Squall slowly turned his head to his father as if to say, 'don't say anything, let me do the talking, you nitwit.'

The waitress moved her eyes from Squall to Laguna, then back to Squall. She blew an enormous bubble of gum that neither man had noticed her chew then she took the gum back into her mouth. After she had chewed a bit and wedged the pink stuff into one cheek she said,

"Bathrooms down the hall to your right," Squall obediently and gratefully left Laguna in the main room of the café and went to the bathrooms hall.

Once he was washed and dried Squall came back with one section of his hair still damp and smelling like a sweet pine forest. The waitress was nowhere to be seen now, but Laguna had selected a small two seated table near the window -which was really just mesh wrapped around the building set in between the ceiling and a barrier of pine. It made the building rather outdoorsy for the seasons it was meant for, the fresh air was inside the café and all pestering bugs were efficiently kept away from the inside.

Squall noticed also that in front of Laguna was a very large plate of those cookies he was hungering for before said Laguna had appeared instantly behind him. Drawn to the cookies –he was nearly elevated by the smell wafting towards him- he walked to the table quickly and began stuffing his face with one large disc the moment he sat down.

After they had each devoured about three of the cookies Squall was feeling morbidly like his father and so he stopped gorging for the moment. As he expected Laguna noticed that and he finished his fifth cookie with some feigned dignity and then brought his attention to Squall.

"So," Squall began, "What the fuck are we going to do now?" Laguna was not at all caught off guard by his son's expletive as he had shifted into his 'Serious decision maker' mode.

Squall, when he looked on his father in this so called mode was never fully convinced that his father could instantly switch from the father he knew and perhaps loved –a little bit- to an effective business man and decision maker. It was never until someone –usually Rinoa, sometimes one of his other friends, and sometimes he even reminded himself- that Laguna had been skillfully 'Presidenting' as Laguna himself sometimes said, the most high tech and powerful country on the planet for the last seventeen years did Squall believe it.

Of course he always had this in mind really, he was only bitter since he thought his father should have been somewhere else for those seventeen years. However obnoxious he might have been.

Thinking this, Squall imagined how he might have turned out being raised by Laguna instead of the Kramers.

_Better off alone…I forget sometimes._

"Well, first we need to see if we can contact our comrades," Laguna said smartly and even surprised Squall when he said it that way.

"That's… right," Squall finished lamely, and he allowed himself a moment to watch his father in confusion for a few moments.

Laguna was oblivious as usual though. He was already rummaging through his cargo pockets for the communicator he used for speaking with Kiros on his distant trips from home or from the supermarket, or from the clothing store… or from the next room.

Even Squall didn't know how incompetent his father could be with a cell phone. And since Ward couldn't speak anymore it was only Kiros who knew how much of his personal salary Laguna spent on stuff for his cell phones, and for the cell phones themselves as he had lost and destroyed many of them.

Laguna was of course the first of the two to locate his communicator. And so he was the first of the two to curse loudly enough to shake all of the plates in the kitchen. Squall had just located his own cell phone in a pocket inside his jacket but had not yet removed it when he heard his father yelp his own expletive.

The waitress wearing the cat's eyes poked her head out of an opening in the wall behind the counter and shamed Laguna instantly with a look that might have been used by a mother trying to protect her children's innocent ears. Laguna grinned at her sheepishly and looked really relieved once the woman retreated back into the kitchen to her unknown work.

Squall chose not to look at his own device before he found out what was wrong with Laguna's.

"What is it?" he asked sounding as bored as his father looked humorously furious.

"I don't quite know how to say it actually…" said Laguna with an unreadable look and tone and so he just showed his son what he meant.

In Laguna's hand was not entirely his cell phone. Meaning it was not his entire cell phone, only the upper half of the device was in his hand. The half with the short antenna, the screen where the numbers were displayed, and the numbers themselves –only the number buttons- were divided in half. It looked as if it had been cleaved right down the middle with a light saber.

"I see," Squall said quietly, and then he dared to look at his own phone.

Squall was not alarmed –and for some reason not entirely disappointed- when he saw that he was in no better condition than his father. His own phone –which was apparently the very same kind his father had, which was embarrassing and creepy- was divided in half as well except Squall had only the lower half of his phone.

"I wanna be surprised but I'm not," Squall deadpanned.

"We could put them together like the wonder twins and make one working phone," Laguna said brightly in an attempt at humor, at once Squall did not laugh but felt the need to correct Laguna.

"First of all; the wonder twins turned _themselves_ into things, and secondly how can you

be thinking of thousand year old cartoons at a time like this?"

"How can you hold a three year old grudge against me at a time like this," Laguna said smartly again and was very pleased when Squall displayed his alarm by that.

"Let's not bring this up right now," Squall said darkly and picked up another cookie to ruin the moment, and to stuff his mouth so he wouldn't need to speak again immediately.

"Why not? We're going to be here for Hyne knows how long since we can't communicate with anybody else, I say we resolve this issue now," Laguna said thinking he was being reasonable and continuing to think that as his son refused to reply to him, favoring the large delectable cookies over speech.

"Come on Squall we can't be this way forever," Laguna said meaningfully, Squall swallowed abruptly and leveled his stare to his father.

"What's stopping us?" he said coldly and he left the café.

Outside the café Laguna had apparently left the cookies behind –except for one which he had stuffed in his coat pocket for later when he forgot about it after it would become stale. Squall was simply rushing away from him with his hands jammed between his redundant belts. Although he was looking ahead of him he was not paying attention to where he was going, all he knew was that he was moving _away_.

Squalls opinion of Laguna was not only annoyance. It was far worse than what it was perceived as by his friend and his lover. They liked to pretend that he was only holding his grudge of Laguna's abandonment only out of principal and something else that must have been silliness. But his friends and his lover were just well wishers on this subject, and really they were only wishing for themselves.

Squall hated Laguna. He hated him and hate was not strong enough a word. All his life that he remembered -which had accumulated impressively since the confirmation of memory recovery when un-junctioned- he had wanted to be with Ellone. More than that he had wanted to get away from the other children who would be his friends and live with a mother and father, he particularly wanted his mother and father.

But Laguna had been away from him. He had left his mother for dead in this very Hyne forsaken town and had spent all of his time ruling over a seemingly supernatural cybernetic city with a pair of people who were his close friends yet otherwise cerebral. Laguna had robbed Squall of what he had always wanted and now it was too late for him to make for it because it was too late for him to _do_ it, and therefore it was impossible for him to be redeemed.

Squall would accept his military assistance; he would accept rations, students and personnel. He would even tolerate Selphie's blabbering of him. But he would not allow Laguna Loire to be his father, not after twenty years of failing at it.

Squall was inside his mothers old bar and restaurant before he could notice and Laguna had caught up with him before he could turn around. Squall wouldn't turn around, not quite yet; Laguna would need to provoke him into speaking before he would show him anything but his back.

As Laguna ranted on about redemption and stupid grudges Squall wished morbidly for that golden light again. He didn't care what it was; he didn't even care where it brought him this time. Even the Deep Sea Research Center, even if it was on the outside. Even gallons of salt and cold water inflating and deflating his lungs would be preferable than listening to his buffoon of a father telling him over and over that he was being wrong.

Squall didn't notice Laguna's words until they became uncharacteristically loud and harsh. And before he spoke, before he even turned around he wondered if even Kiros had ever heard this sort of tone from Laguna, and more than that he wondered if he ever spoke to his friends about Squalls mother. He certainly hoped that they never had to hear him talking about her like this. Squall turned on his heel and jutted on index finger into Laguna's Hawaiian shirt.

"Don't you drag her into this!" Squall yelled to match his father.

Neither man had given thought to whether or not raising their voice would actually get their points across to one another more crisply, but when one doesn't seem to listen it is easy to assume it's some level of deafness.

"I'm telling you Squall if your mother were here, _right, now,_" as Laguna emphasized those last two words he jutted his own index finger from the same hand and he elevated his voice louder than Squall could ever expect but he neither man hardly cared right now.

Before Laguna had the chance to close his jaws their visions of one another were deluged in sparks and golden light. It was over the moment after it began and if not for knowing what the effects of the light was already both men would have assumed that it had body stopping properties.

Neither man moved, they stood frozen stupidly staring at one another. Squall noticed almost with bemusement that Laguna had not even closed his mouth. After hearing a distinctly feminine sound neither man moved still, but Squall noticed that his father had chosen to move. He closed his mouth finally but it looked less for the sake of politeness, and more for making sure that his heart didn't shoot directly out of it.

Both men moved to look at the counter looking like a man and his mirror.

Squall would declare later that he would have been less surprised to see one of Zell's missing Whelp parts.

Not ten feet away from Squall was Raine Loire Leonhart, his mother. And now she was not a spirit, not an ectoplasm vision or a cat playing a magic trick. She was solid, she was breathing, and she was blinking. She looked as surprised as he and Laguna must have looked.

Squall felt as his father must have felt, as his mother must have felt, he felt like he couldn't move, like he didn't want to move for fear that he would wake up or disturb the particles of the woman before him so she might be cast off to the wind.

For the longest time they did nothing.

She looked as she always had in Laguna's pictures and memories. She wore the same clothes that were anything but revealing but had still caught Laguna's attention. She had that same smooth milky face she had given her son when she died.

And of course she had to manifest behind the bar of all places. It was not likely that she would end up anywhere else Laguna thought.

"Laguna?" she asked with only a touch of uncertainty.

So that was what her voice sounded like Squall thought. It was so strange to hear his mother's voice for the first time as a young adult –both he and his mother being young adults made it that much stranger- but the strangeness was easily outweighed by wonderment. Assuming she stayed with them her voice would no doubt dull to a voice sounding as normal as any other but now it was like a dream had manifested. Now Squall understood why Laguna could never describe these details to him when he told Squall about his mother. Laguna himself had likely been enjoying her voice too much to analyze it.

"Raine." Laguna stated with a hitch in his throat, perhaps he was still trying to keep his heart in his chest, if so he was managing on will and will alone.

"What's happening? I was just here, and now I'm… here again," she finished lamely.

Squall still couldn't speak, not just because he didn't want to interrupt his mother's voice but now didn't quite seem the time for him to speak.

"You're…" At this point all of Laguna's organs seemed to be secure in the right place but now he was just at a loss for words, he would have to tell her when she was but he would need some way to segue into it to make it easier to take, he needed a subtle approach.

But Laguna had never been good at subtle approaches, and unfortunately his son beside him who was good with those seemed to be having even more trouble speaking than he was. Perhaps he could just blatantly blurt it out like he always did…

Squall.

A whole new gravity to the situation crushed Laguna as he realized she would also know about Squall. And if she knew about Squall then she would know about Squalls resentment of him. That and a thousand other things occurred to him in mid sentence, and it all predictably pooled in the same place it always did.

The muscles in Laguna's right leg writhed and tensed like his heart then but painfully, and he nearly fell over but he caught himself against one of the tables which luckily for him, were nailed to the floor.

In fact twenty years ago the tables had been made that way for this very reason, and twenty years later Laguna found himself thankful for it once again. Back in the day Laguna had gotten the bright idea of directing people to their tables 'Like they do in the big city' he had said. But when he did that he would always get nervous and then his leg would cramp, then he would knock down two or three tables in a domino fashion and spill wax and sometimes food across the floor and the other customers. Not only had Raine decided to nail the tables down after that, but she also decided that she would fire Laguna and make him kill monsters for the town instead.

Squall didn't know this but he could have guessed since he had expected for that very thing to happen right in front of him. Raine was the first of the three to move voluntarily when she ran from behind the counter and helped Laguna sit in the chair. As Squall watched Raine displayed a routine that had to have been born from practice.

She was lifting two of his limbs for him while he eased himself in the chair and she only set them down once he looked sturdy in the chair. It was then Raine got a very good look of Laguna's face, the streak of white in his hair which obviously was not from a favor from bleach. Raine ran one finger along the white lock of hair, she began at the scalp and her finger brushed over the hair brand just briefly then she finished to the end of his hair.

"Laguna you're old now," she stated a bit fearfully but Laguna's smile and the old shimmer in his eye she recognized kept her from out crying completely.

"Raine, I think you just traveled in time twenty years," he placed his hands on either side of her head and spoke very slowly and deliberately so she would catch every word and every bit of educated certainty in his voice.

Granted Laguna knew little more about the situation than even Raine did but something told him that a certain three year ordeal played a major role.

Only for a moment Raine looked at him like he had grown the second head of a Moomba under his armpit. But then that look was softened slightly by clarity. Again she stroked the white streak of hair on her lovers head, and something in her kept her from saying anything about anything for the moment.

"So," she began and stood up, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around her breasts. Raine decided that now was not the time for contemplation. She was where she was and so she would do whatever it was she would do there. Suddenly, Laguna was not a young man; he was not next door taking care of Ellone for her while she tended to the dirty glasses behind the bar. He was in the building with her, he was twenty years older it seemed… suddenly she was reminded of the other young man who was in the room with them and she spun around.

"Oh I'm so sorry Laguna didn't introduce us, he's rude like that sometimes I apologize for him," there was something very wife-like and motherly in her countenance when she belted that out, it was a rush of breath that could have only come from lungs expanded from argument. And that sentence, humorously enough, sounded more like something a mother would say about her child rather than a wife about her husband.

And she seemed eager to change the subject as well, and a proper introduction with the stranger her husband had failed to introduce her too –which was actually understandable considering the circumstances- was a prime way to avoid any talk of time travel even if for a moment.

As Laguna watched his son be stunned by his mother much the same way he himself had those years ago when he had first met her, Laguna tried to consider why Raine had not fainted, or had a brain hemorrhage or something upon deciding that she was not exactly where she was before. It would not happen soon, but he would later decide that it was that fortuitous spirit of hers he had fallen in love with -and of course a certain amount of denial since she had been transported to the same room, a room which was different only because of the way dust had collected.

"My name is Raine Leonhart Loire," she said politely when she shook Squalls hand the same way she might have wiggled a dead fish, she ignored his rudeness and took it for the shock of seeing a woman manifest before his very eyes, "And you are?"

Squall wanted to speak, he wanted badly to speak, but when your heart stops for as long as his had –or it seemed to have stopped anyway- it's hard for a person to summon any activity in their body. Squall blinked several times, took in a deep breath and squeezed Raines hand to hopefully make up for his rudeness with the handshake. He took another deep breath and forced the words from his mouth as best he could.

"Squall, my name is… Squall Leonhart"

Raine ceased to move then. Her hand gripped his firmly still, her stance did not change, and the way she was looking up to him with such polite kindness froze so perfectly, that Squall thought that time had done something impossible to his mother once again.

Then she let go him and her face collapsed into tears. She backed away from him and bumped into Laguna who had stood up and she apologized to him very quickly before she regarded her son again. Her hands were at her mouth at once to lighten her sniffles. Laguna, knowing that she was not sad only put an arm around her and watched Squall just as Raine was.

Her tears were not many but there were enough to soak her palms. She distractedly wiped her hands on her sweater quickly then she watched Squall some more. She whispered something to Laguna at some point that Squall could not quite make out but he thought he had heard, 'This is our boy?'

Laguna patted her on the shoulder happily to say yes and at once one of the hands over her mouth went to her heart. With anyone else this kind of behavior would have Squall bored directly into a comatose state. But this was his _mother_, his _mother_ was watching him, his _mother_ was speaking to him, his _mother_ was _here_.

And so Squall just stood still, if his mother wanted him to be a display for her for the moment then so be it. After twenty years of her absence –and without a grudge for her at that- Squall thought he was prepared to do many things for this woman.

Without warning Raine tackled Squall and hugged him so tightly the wind was knocked out of him but she didn't seem to notice. Squall caught his breath once again and once he did he put his arms around his mother, and his heart fluttered when he smelled peony shampoo in her hair.

_I'm hugging my mother._

"Are you one of those rock stars or something? You're wearing so much leather," she said not dejectedly but conversationally, probably more for the sake of hearing his voice again than to actually confirm that her son wasn't actually a whore or something.

"Um, no, I just like leather," he said awkwardly and she giggled into his jackets mane.

After a while Laguna stepped over and joined the hug. Instead of screaming at him again or complaining to him Squall surprised his father by removing one arm from Raine and putting it around him. Squall locked eyes with his father then and said without words to him, 'Just this once.' Laguna nodded wordlessly. Perhaps both of them were worried that even the slightest thing would upset or dispatch the woman with them, or maybe Squall assumed and Laguna knew because he actually knew the woman. Neither of them thought of this now though. Raine was the only important thing for now.

Very much time passed this way but none of them seemed to notice.

_It happened_, she thought, _Laguna and I had the child we were talking about, and they named him what I had asked._

_This is incredible_, Laguna thought, _she's here, and he's meeting her_.

_My mother,_ Squall thought, _I'm holding my mother_.

It was like holding Rinoa chastely and yet it was not. Rinoa was a very different girl no doubt, but there were certain similarities, virtues even that Squall could swear he was recognizing in his mother. She felt so familiar even though he had never done this before, and it felt so new because it was.

It was after this moment all three brunettes were discouraged, even saddened when the golden light came again. It was very quick this time though; they had not the time to move or to complain. They could not even try to scatter and run away from it. It seemed as though the golden tapestry of lightning and glow simply fell on them, and then swept them away to another place.

**A Fault On Temptations Part**

I am now less fascinated with this make up and more annoyed by it. What they either don't know or simply don't tell you about this stuff is that if you wear it for too long it starts to itch. It hasn't been confirmed yet of course but I believe it's because this substance does not dissolve against perspiration, and so the salt and any other non-fluids in the sweat simply dry up and create a kind of stickiness –and even a crust if left too long- in between the make up and the actual skin.

In the three days since we arrived at the Ostentat mansion and in that time Joselyn has needed to apply the make up to me about five times. Judging by how my face is starting to feel right now it may only be another hour or two before she needs to replace another layer.

This is so far the only part of this mission that worries me. Although I'm not sure exactly how much of the stuff that Joselyn puts on me each time, it seems to me that we may run out of the stuff before our mission is even over. The Ostentats are not supposed to see my face. We're obviously not sure if it could compromise the mission if they knew what I really look like but as far as I'm concerned we can't be too sure.

I know that's only an excuse on my part and I can't say that bothers me. I will, after all, use virtually any excuse I can think of when it comes to my facial secrecy.

Joselyn is less worried about this than I am. All we do is patrol the mansion once or twice, inside and out every day before we go to bed and allow Cody to take over. Savior presumably is also on patrol with us but he hasn't yet shown himself. I suppose we just don't need to know where he is yet, or not at all.

When we pass each other at our crossing points I'll ask her to replace my mask and finger… things –finger gloves maybe? - She always just nods to me and doesn't even stop. Part of me stings when she does that but I know that's unreasonable. We are after all doing a job and when we're not sleeping we have little time to just talk and be friends.

Another thing that quells the stinging is that I know why she's behaving this way. She doesn't show it at all, she goes out of her way to look very sure of herself about her job but I happen to know that she's been fretting about it the moment we laid eyes on this building.

She is very worried about our mission and with good reason. She's thinking like a good leader which is unfortunately why she's fretting so much –and so secretly. We know very little about our enemy for one. She and I, and even Cody blame the Ostentats for this of course. They have displayed to us that they are much unschooled in the ways of dealing with the enemy when there's no money involved –or seemingly so at least. They're the type who simply call others to solve their own problems, which is good, we'd be out of work if not for people like this, but that doesn't stop us from having a certain amount of disrespect for our clients.

Cody is predictably unconcerned. And he's been just as upbeat and even chirpy sometimes even though he began to sleep different hours so we wouldn't have to. This… seems so impossible to me, and it's a perfect example of Cody's tolerance. It's perhaps this level of tolerance that allows him to be my close friend.

Although I'm concerned about running out of make up I have to admit that it would be a nice change of pace to see Miss Ostentat looking at me without an insect beneath her eyelids. I know she can't possibly have an insect under her eyelids, every minute, of every day. But I can't shake the thought that she's that way all the time. It's crossed my mind more than once that's he's trying to flirt with me. From the way she walks away from me mostly, but that way she looks at me extinguishes that thought so swiftly and comically.

"Grave?" comes a voice of obviously feigned affection.

Think of the devil.

Ever since we arrived she has not quite grasped that I go by Grave. And she doesn't seem to believe me when I tell her that I can't remember having a proper name –or when Joselyn tells her, which embarrasses me somehow.

I turn around and see her leaning against a doorway that was close when I passed it a second ago. The door hinges in this house must be very well oiled.

"Grave?" she repeats and I snap back to reality –why on Gaia was I thinking about the door hinges?

She's dressed in red again. In the three days we have been around this girl she has been in twelve outfits. Most of them have been red anyway, and by that I mean it was the primary color in her scheme. Although there have been other times when she is dressed differently, but always there is a standout piece of red, even if it's only a lipstick like cardinal feathers or a red ribbon around one wrist.

She is dressed primarily in red once again. There are only four garments that I can see –if you don't count shoes as one item- a very small necklace with a red disc pendant is resting in the crook of her collarbone, a sleeveless red dress that stops about three, maybe four inches below her ass, and a pair of high top footwear –so high they reach her knees- with very tall heels which Joselyn _oh so affectionately_ refers to as 'Knock me down and fuck me boots'.

"Could you come in here for a minute?" she asks politely but then ruins her politeness by walking into the room without my response.

"Sure," I only say half heartedly since it will probably fall on deaf ears.

I follow Miss Ostentat into the room and shut the door behind me. By the time my attention is on her she's already sitting down and gesturing me to join her. This room looks like a lounge area; or rather it looks like another lounge area. This room like many others is probably entirely unnecessary. I myself think the main pool hall is more of a lounge area than any other, and considering the amount of people this building has in it on average there's plenty of room in it.

She's sitting in a padded wicker chair that looks much like a star trek prop. Her legs are crossed and point directly in the direction of my face. Although she is mostly upright she looks like she's lying down in the thing. And now thinking how comfortable that chair probably is I'm noticing an ache in my back that's probably gone ignored for most of the day.

I'm standing behind the chair now and she gestures for me to sit down again. I don't sit, I don't have time, I only have another few hours to finish my perimeter check and I'm going to need all of that time to finish if I'm going to do the job adequately.

"What do you need Miss Ostentat?" I hope that my tone implied that I need to leave urgently.

Her lipstick smiles before she speaks and that tells me that no, my tone implied nothing to her. Either that or she doesn't care or she thinks it's interesting or amusing.

"I have a little..." she bites her lip for moment for show of nonexistent innocence then looks up to me again, "'chore' for you to do," she finishes sounding very pleased and focused by something.

What the hell does she want?

I quirk an eyebrow and I could swear she just mouthed 'how cute' arrogantly to me. She didn't even look away when she did that. Honestly, sometimes I have all I can do to keep myself from shaking this family like a British nanny. Sometimes these people can be infuriating just by their tone of voice, their gestures, their demands… their… their…

…

… Is she showing me her pussy…?

…

… So the looks she's been giving me… that strut that Joselyn keeps complaining about…

oh.

Oh.

OH!

The moment ago when I was thinking about her false superiority she slid the one leg crossing over the other to reveal bald, slick labia almost as pink as Joselyn's lips, almost. Her eyelids are hooded but she is clearly not tired, her lower lip is parted from her upper one. I think she's breathing only through her mouth; it makes her exhales much more noticeable.

The first thing that bolts into my skull like a thousand targeted lightning bolts is not mission conduct relating to clients, it's not that a girl has never approached me this way before, it isn't even how instantly horny I feel. In an instant I see an imaginary Joselyn standing in front of me. For a moment I think it's really her but I know it isn't really her, Joselyn is perhaps on the other side of the building right now.

I want to do this I really do. If only to rid myself of the abstract idea that is masculine virginity and to finally know what it feels like to do this. But the devil on my shoulder keeps telling to come up with an excuse to leave, even the angel is looking up from his magazine –absently, I imagine he's looking at a photo of the very girl before me- to agree with his adversary.

This is tempting, it is _very_ tempting. But the idea that I might perhaps maybe be able to be with Joselyn if but for a few seconds before I wake up is more tempting. It pains me to do this, and it may even shame me as a masculine body but I cannot do Miss Ostentats so called 'chore' for her –a chore indeed, chores don't feel good. I need an excuse, and fast.

"You don't pay us for that service," is the first and perhaps best possible statement that comes to my mind.

Her brows furrow like she was a child who didn't get her toy, "Oh? I was hoping you could do it for free," she says in a piteous voice that would sound genuine to me if I didn't know any better. For effect she squirms her thighs together and elevates her pelvis to give me a better look.

"I should get back to my shift," I choke out and I turn away from the golden opportunity spread before me.

The moment my hand touches the door knob she has already stood up and clopped over to me. Like oil running across a flat surface she puts herself against my backside and blows a narrow passage of breath against the back of my neck. Although she is an unfamiliar body, it's comfortable, and the comfort stops me just long enough for her to make her next move.

Her right hand comes around my waist and she grasps my cock so hard I almost moan and fall against the door. I don't collapse at all, but the moan tries to come out and sounds much like a croak, but I must sound unmistakably pleased.

"Now I'm sure you don't want to leave me in here, _aching_, _coming_ apart," she softens her death grip to a firm massage.

I put my hand on hers and it takes all the restraint I can summon to move it off of my crotch instead of pressing it against me harder. I turn around and I try to move away from her, but instead I press myself against the door for all the room that was between us was all the room that was available.

"Look-"

She presses herself against me again before I can say another word. She slowly and firmly raises her left leg against me and hooks it around my waist surprisingly well. Her legs aren't particularly long and so I have to wonder how she's managing that. Cornucopia seizes my hand again and she brings the base of my palm against her groin, she pushes my hand under her elevated thigh and her other hand goes to guide my fingers against her clitoris.

As she slides two of my fingers into her, I am absently surprised how small the opening is. I used to think that a pussy would be more like a bag, like an opening as long and narrow as the labia are. And now that this is happening, and now that I'm giving it some focused thought, I realize that was a very stupid and virginal thing to think.

I suddenly feel very stupid for this for some reason.

The feeling is so otherworldly and pleasant. But it's not quite as I had expected and I realize that it's because of the make up on my fingers. So I can't quite tell what the feeling of flesh against flesh is like, but I have a perfect sense of the heat and the moisture. It's pleasant, but something is distinctly missing, and that's probably the only reason I can bring myself to take my hand out of her. It's probably exactly like washing the dishes with a pair of plastic gloves. If this is what it's like to have sex with a condom then I want no part of it.

I take my hand away somewhat –very- reluctantly and push her away by the shoulder with my other hand. From the way she's sneering I have to think that she isn't used to being turned down and I understand why, despite her arrogance she's very tempting, and I'm almost about to do this with her anyway.

"Look," I repeat with some authority this time. "There's somebody else alright? And I'm not about to blow my chance just because you're easier." Before I can register the new look on her face I open the door and slam it behind me.

I'm not ten steps down the hall before the door slams open again and she shouts at me. "You will get back in here and fuck my brains out Hyne-Damnit!"

"Should your father be hearing you say that?" I shout but not in her direction.

"My father is in the garden right now, he wouldn't be able to hear me if I was screaming on the damn back patio!" she slams the door again, hopefully for lack of hope or interest in me at this point.

"Which fucking patio?" I ask myself aloud but I don't give it any further thought.

I take not four more steps before I stop again. I really should wash my hand; something tells me that my nonexistent chances with Joselyn won't be increasing if she smells pussy on my fingers. I look around me and examine the doors, and the corridors…

…

… I can't remember which one of these is the bathroom.

Annoyingly enough bathrooms are the one thing that the Ostentats don't have in abundance which makes me think that they are possibly the stupidest rich people imaginable. You should never have a seventy six room mansion built with only three or four bathrooms. Upon inspection we found they have more tennis courts than bathrooms. I had always thought trendy sports took a backseat to bodily waste secretion but I suppose that as long as I'm under these roofs I'll be wrong about that.

"Hyne damn it I just need to find a bathroom."

"To your left."

"AH!"

I spun around and nearly fell on my ass. Behind me was Joselyn, her arms crossed and her mood is clearly unhappy but mostly unreadable. I don't know what she's thinking but I know it can't be good, and I want badly to know what it is.

"What's wrong?" I was going to say that she had scared the shit out of me but that is not as heavy on my mind as this is now.

She tries to say it all with her eyes but all I can make out in this way is 'I'm upset.' I will be the last person to say that Joselyn is unclear with her body language but now, I have to wonder if she even wants me to know what's on her mind, even though she's letting me know there is something wrong.

Joselyn shifts her arms so instead of crossing them she is holding her own waist. She hoods the eye I can see and stays quiet.

"What's wrong?" I ask again.

"The bathroom, it's to your left," she makes gesture in said direction and her hair that is one third a mask shakes once like a curtain of white strings.

I try not to investigate her face anymore and so I open the door she gestured to and go into the bathroom. I may be noticing this too soon but she isn't moving, this is not a public toilet and I'm only washing my hand after all. I hope she realizes that she can come in with me.

_**EG**_

"I'm just washing my hand you know, you can come in," Grave said from the bathroom and quickly Joselyn snapped back to reality.

Without saying anything Joselyn entered the bathroom, didn't bother to close the door. She sat next to the sink Grave was using. Grave was not making quick work of washing his hand. He had turned the cold water knob for concern that hot water might dissolve the make up latex and pouring soap on his fingers the way someone might baste meat periodically.

Joselyn had been secretly following Grave on his patrol all morning, afternoon, and evening. After the first two days she had decided the mission was going nowhere in the way of actual threats and so she decided to indulge some borderline stalker desires she had been withholding that first day.

At this point in their relationship it was not normal for Grave and Joselyn to spend so little time together. They ate every meal together; they practiced and trained together in the Training Center, they stayed up together late at night to have conversations of varying length or read poetry or whatever it was that had their attention at the time. In fact they did nearly everything together but sleep and shower.

There were times when Joselyn thought of changing that.

Many times in fact she had thought of behaving much the way she heard Cornucopia behaving as she had a minute ago. Joselyn was just outside of the door on the side where the door outwardly opened so she wouldn't be noticed when it opened again, if it opened again. And much to her relief it had, and much more to her relief it had opened again very soon.

She had listened very closely through the crack on her side of the door. She was not disgusted by what Cornucopia was doing for she had seriously considered it many times herself and she had never seen anything wrong with it that way. But she was deeply infuriated. It was all she could do to keep from bursting in the door and decapitating their client.

It was because of Grave's quick excuses and barging out that she managed to keep herself secluded and well tempered. It was almost like he was behind her, holding her arms behind her back and whispering for her not to worry.

Joselyn guessed that Grave was washing his fingers because Cornucopia had jammed them into her cunt. It only seemed that way from the glistening on his fingers in place of sexed breath or undone jeans. Of those three possibilities she was grateful of the one that had happened. Since Grave was wearing the make up on his fingers and his gloves on top of that he had technically not come in_ physical _contact with Cornucopia. She even felt somewhat triumphant that she had painted the stuff on him herself.

Joselyn wanted to think she was the reason Grave had left Cornucopia unsatisfied. He had after said that there was, 'Someone Else,' and Joselyn could think of no other person but her. It couldn't be Cody, Grave certainly wasn't gay and he probably wasn't even curious. Most of the ways he had behaved around her made her want to think that she was that reason which was bugging her. But some part of her just had to nag at the negative, 'What if it isn't you?'

Joselyn tried hard to think who else it could be but Grave interrupted her masochistic train of thought.

"What were you doing out here? I thought you were working the other areas," Grave said carefully scrubbing the latex so it wouldn't come apart on his fingers.

"Um…" She was stuck in one of those moments of anticipation which, when struck, there was perhaps a five second deadline for her to think of a reasonable excuse –a lie- but she was coming up empty, she could think of nothing untrue for his ears.

"I was following you," she stated before she had even decided to tell him the truth, although she would have anyway.

Grave looked to her and paused as he turned off the cold water.

"Why on Gaia did you do that?" he asked, like the Moomba to the Moogle about the sock puppet in the soup in the popular children's fairytale.

"I just felt like watching you," she said like it was normal and shrugged her shoulders. "We haven't been around each other much in the past few days and I think it's hard to adjust to." She explained simply as she came up with it, and she surprised herself as her excuse became truer and truer and she spoke.

Grave looked like he was ready to burst from the questions popping into his head. Joselyn was expecting a nice steady river of questions at this point so she rested against the mirror and released a large breath she hadn't until then noticed she was holding.

"… I guess you're right," he said agreeably and so Joselyn's eyebrows went up without her command. "But why didn't you just walk with me, we could've talked if you weren't playing stalker."

Joselyn instantly felt stupid. Had she realized that Grave would not have cared that she was leaving her own path alone as if it were unimportant, so she could spend some much needed time with him then she would have definitely spoken to him. But when she had considered speaking to him she decided against it. She thought he might lecture her even though he never really did that –and certainly not concerning rule breaking- but Joselyn was kind of hoping that Grave was as concerned about the mission as she was, and that would include being anal about keeping posts and paths.

Now that she thought of it, it was kind of contradictory for her to decide to abandon her personal mission for whimsy when she had been so worried about everything for so long. She wanted to elaborate on that thought but something more important occurred to her.

"I heard what was happening in there with Cornucopia," she said grimly while looking at the tiles away from Grave's feet.

"Oh," Grave said trying to speak a little loudly and managing to only sound audible, he took a small hand towel and brushed the water drops off of his fingers.

"So I guess we know now why the pool boy always has a big grin on his face," he said rudely and happily.

Joselyn laughed genuinely through her worry at that, and they made themselves enjoy it longer than they might have under another circumstance so as to avoid further conversation about this for a moment.

He set down the cloth in a spot on the sink counter where it didn't belong and started out of the bathroom. Joselyn forced some brightness to her face and her voice.

"So who's this girl you mentioned, you said there's someone else?" Grave stopped and brought his attention back to Joselyn's face, which a moment ago had been unusually concealed by her hair.

He could make out the forced brightness in her face below her eyebrows which had apparently been robbed of whatever enthusiastic energy she had summoned. Her voice wasn't so convincing either.

Grave considered telling the truth, he came up with about five or six different ways to put it and about twenty or twenty one things he could do while he spoke. He wasn't ready yet and he knew it, and that was why he felt not at all guilty to be glad when Cornucopia Ostentat screamed bloody murder through the hallways.

Joselyn and Grave didn't even bother to make eye contact. They jumped into action so quickly they couldn't even remember arming themselves as they barged into the hallway. Graves Crowbars were spinning around his wrists and Joselyn's sword was nearly making a musical sound as it cut the air behind them.

Across the hall from them was Cody, running just as they were holding his long assembled spear at his back. They each caught eyes with him and only did they stop once they reached the door where the scream had come from and they each filed in like three fast cars making the sharpest turns onto the same road.

They entered the room to the quintessential scene of kidnapping or perhaps mad sex before eloping. The glass from the tray of spirits was splattered with its contents on the floor. Chairs were toppled almost as if for dramatic effect only, and the largest window in the room was wide open like two glass doors, and the curtains blew inside the room like two long, pink, flame tongues.

They were to window without needing to think about it. They were on automatic pilot it seemed. They seemed to know what they needed to do despite their lack of experience. Perhaps this was what it was to be raised mercenaries. To act as you were taught and to think coherently only when it was necessary, like independent thought was more of a secret weapon or a last resort than an uncontrollable virtue of sentient animation.

Five figures could be seen with Cornucopia rushing over the marble walkway through the garden and topiaries. It was now even at this distance their independent thought kicked in. When they saw the uniforms their enemy was wearing something clicked, there was something distinctly familiar about them.

They leaped into action again without thinking about further. Surely once they caught up with their enemy –and they were sure they would- they could decide what was so familiar about their enemy.

It was one floor down Cody and Joselyn noticed, and they also noticed the thick vines of ivy on either side of the window –which they did not notice was on either side of every window on the back side of the building. Cody and Joselyn swung onto the ivy with little trouble and began their descent. Grave on the other hand, had a quicker method.

Grave set one foot on the rail outside the window for leverage, and then he pushed himself with all his might over the short balcony and directly to the marble walkway below.

"Grave!" Joselyn screamed concernedly yet scolding as he fell past them.

Joselyn's concern was for nothing and her scolding was of equal importance because when Grave fell he landed loudly but undamaged. He did not even stagger; he simply stomped into the ground, exhaled, and then took off leaving his comrades in the ivy and in the dust behind him.

Joselyn and Cody allowed themselves and each other to exchange their, 'What the fuck?' looks before they hurried down the ivy. By the time they were at the bottom their enemies were halfway through the area and Grave was making tracks behind them perhaps one quarter down the path himself.

It was now Joselyn cursed herself for leaving her post on this day of all days. Had she remained on her normal path she would have been by her room by now and should have had close access to her sniper rifle. Granted it may have taken her a minute or two to find a decent post for picking off these new enemies of theirs but it still would have been more professional and efficient than chasing them down with a sword, side by side with her friend holding a spear.

Grave with his unnatural strength was catching up with the enemies and Cornucopia almost like a lion chasing antelope. Joselyn grinned thinking what was in for their opponents once he reached them; they were certainly in for it she thought.

And then Grave collapsed face first onto the marble.

"GRAVE!" she croaked out loudly, a smokers voice taking a rare opportunity to come from her throat.

Just as the fury rushed through her like a drug introduced through the veins it was quelled, perhaps by an actual drug permeating her veins. The quietest of 'Thock' sounds was made in her neck. And she had only a moment to brush her fingers in that area to notice a large needle in her neck before sleep took her and she fell just as Grave had twenty feet away from her.

**Terra And The Children**

Raijin was not a very good pilot in Fujin's opinion. He was perhaps just good enough to qualify and that unfortunately left noticeable room for error. The only reason Fujin had allowed him to pick her up was because he was probably the only available pilot at the time. And of course because she was distraught by being skipped a whole day in time so contrary to how she had carried on in the Shumi village, she was very concerned and willing to take any mode of transportation out of the Hyne forsaken Trabian tundra.

Raijin was not a bad pilot in the way that Selphie was a careless and often uncontrollable one, and he was not arrogant like Zell who tended to assume everything was all right without making the necessary checks on everything. Raijin was simply forgetful; he tended to forget important things, or rather one important thing at a time. His piloting gave the impression of perfection besides one of the many things one would never think about, and unfortunately Raijin as a pilot was one of those people.

When Fujin had rushed out of the Shumi dome to the landing whelp she saw Raijin wave at her from the front seat then lean over to the passengers side to open the rear seat of the cock pit. Then she saw him struggle with the lock and seeing that the only thing keeping her moving forward at her speed was the sharp cold.

By the time Fujin was beside the aircraft Raijin had lost his temper and had begun beating on the latch with his fist. Fujin stood in the cold for fifteen minutes in what could be considered scant in such weather for fifteen minutes watching Raijin beat on a lump of plastic that must have been the lock.

But it wasn't, after those horrible minutes Raijin stopped suddenly like he had been struck with a very impressive attention deficit disorder, then he pushed a lump of metal adjacent to what he had been pounding and the cock pit opened quickly. To this Raijin turned his head in her direction and gave her a goofy laugh with a grin to match.

Raijin also looked unmistakably afraid, for Fujin had in that moment given him a look that might have taken all of the cold from Trabia and isolated in the cockpit with him had she been a sorceress.

Afterward Raijin had taken a risky head beating for a while from Fujin's seat behind him. Then after she had warmed up physically and cooled down temper-mentally he had filled her in as well as he could about Squalls disappearance. Fujin had not told Raijin about her thoughts on the matter. Although he was a holder of many of her secrets, she thought the possibility that Ultimecia could still be at work would be a burden on her beloved oaf.

They were quiet for a long time after that until they started to look for the orphanage they had been directed to. These long silences were things that Raijin had not gotten used to until the past three years. For most of their lives he had felt uncomfortable when there was no speech but in recent times when he was working in the hangar he had grown to appreciate simply being quiet and possibly reading.

Although one man can only change so much.

"You know where this place is at all?" he said trying not to be accusatory but he could not keep that note from his voice.

"He said it was on the shoreline," she said plainly for perhaps the fifty eighth time that evening, while wondering for perhaps the one hundred and sixteenth time if it was a male she had spoken with.

"Which shoreline?" he asked irritably for perhaps the twenty ninth time.

"Can't we just scan the area a whole lot?"

"That's what we've been doing Fu! But we haven't seen a damn thing other than snow sand and water."

After being filled in by Raijin poorly –however this time his filling in was due to lack of information- they had scanned every shoreline in Trabia they could find. If they had missed this orphanage –for which they had not even the evidence of its existence- it was either because they had gone temporarily blind at points in their flight, or because they had selected the worst possible times for bickering at certain more memorable points in their flight.

Fujin was sure it was the latter. True most of the flight was pleasantly quiet and she was thankful for every second of it. But opening his big mouth was always going to be one of Raijin's more distinguishing traits, whether he was opening his big mouth about something humorous or not.

It was most often something humorous however. It was Zell whose own big mouth was more known for getting others into trouble.

Most often their silences when they lasted –or better put 'When they happened'- happened because Fujin had selected a stand out moment of a conversation where she would go quiet therefore giving Raijin his cue to either shut his damn mouth or he'd be permitted to keep his head on his shoulders. But of course Fujin would never do anything to physically harm Raijin… permanently… in any area that wasn't spelled S.H.I.N.S…

… The point was Fujin was sure that Raijin sometimes used his status with her as an excuse to speak when she didn't want him to. She would make it quite clear with not words but her countenance that she wanted no words polluting the air, but Raijin would still have something to say, and when his shins were feeling fine or padded he would often dare to speak to her at these times.

Eventually though Fujin got her wish and they went for another go around the perimeter they had created after flying around for so long. And as fate would have it they finally spotted what looked like a shotgun shack about fifty feet from the water. It was beside a grey mountain not far from a collection of long islands near Balamb Island.

"Ha! That's gotta be it ya know!" said Raijin allowing an unintentional 'ya know' slip for sake of the excitement. "There's nothin' else around here for miles!" they way he said it made it sound almost good due to the circumstances.

Fujin was very grateful because yet again something rather important had slipped Raijin's mind. They had used an impressive amount of fuel wasting their time all over Trabia for only Hyne knew how long. Luckily Fujin herself was there to notice for him. Unfortunately just being there to notice for him was not quite enough to help the situation. They would need to fly directly to B-Garden after this, or heaven forbid another location where Galbadia may be able to find them.

Sadly these places included Balamb and Fishermans Horizon. Although the takeover on Balamb was not as severe as the one during the Second Sorceress War three years ago, the court had decided in Galbadias favor to keep a watch on the area. The only reason Zell had not fled from the Garden to collect his mother and friends there was because the towns safety was insured. B-Garden had even sent spies –including Zell who had been wonderfully cooperative and excellent undercover for a change- to make sure that every thing was going well there and that Galbadia was not acting out of line.

Fishermans Horizons situation was not as pretty. The Mayor and his Wife had refused profusely to allow any sort of military that was not Balamb or Trabia Gardens to dock and station on their human built island. But the Galbadians without even a trial decision had forced themselves into the area. It was because Fishermans Horizon also refused to have anything to do with national politics that this was allowed. It was like leveling a forest in the middle of nowhere, there was no ink and paper declaring that they could not do as they pleased there.

Any sort of connection between this and Martine was never confirmed, although Squall, Laguna, and a few other high ranking members of the B-Garden, T-Garden and Esthar alliance had their suspicions.

At first it looked like the shack was only nearby the mountain, but once they were near it they saw that it was attached to the base of the mountain. The wood was colorless like snow and ink and was weathered to the point of nearly blending in to its surrounding. But the plated metal roof stood out although it was as colorless as the mountain and the shack. There was a mid sized door that Raijin would probably have to squeeze through. It had no windows which they both decided silently that was wise.

They landed nearby the shack but not too terribly close. They landed only close enough to alert anyone inside by the sound of the Whelp. Raijin descended, landed, and shut off the air craft and in that time nobody had emerged from the shack. For a moment Fujin felt worry that there was nobody in there or perhaps that there was nobody alive in there.

Could a Guardian Force die? And if not could a half Guardian Force die? For that was what this Terra seemed to be. In her depictions she was the daughter of the GF Maduin and a woman named Madonna. Perhaps the human in her would allow her death? Or perhaps the GF in her would prevent it?

The cock pit opened and Raijin jumped out without Fujin noticing. She was lost in thought and so remained in her seat. Raijin saw this after a few moments of dilly dally and he climbed to her side of the Whelp and snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. Fujin snapped to attention feeling instantly embarrassed. Raijin looked at her worriedly since this sort of thing never happened, but she ignored him and hopped out of the whelp on the other side.

Raijin closed Fujins cock pit barrier as she approached the house then he hopped off himself and jogged behind her. Fujin was rapping at the door when he was beside her and she rapped again once he had regained his breath.

They waited longer than was polite to their extremities and still no one answered. At this point that she had predicted actually, nobody had still opened the door and there were no sounds coming from the inside to suggest that anyone was coming to let them in.

Fujin pulled the large shuriken from her back and she slid it into the crease between the door and the building. Then in one very swift movement that Raijin had not quite followed she swiped down and severed the lock.

Raijin wanted to suggest that the door might not have been locked but that would have probably earned him a sarcastic remark or a kick in the shins. Of course there would be a lock on it. They were in the middle of Trabia for Hynes sake Fujin might have said.

Fujin pulled the door open and let herself in. She surveyed the entry room quickly as Raijin rushed into the house and slammed the door shut. Only after he closed the door did it register in their minds that the wind had been powerful and howling outside. There minds had been elsewhere.

And now there minds were inside and so were they so continuing the mission was priority. The entry room was small, and at only a first glance it looked like there was little more to it. But if one had eyes like Fujin, one could make out the rectangular line in the wall opposite them. A four angled crease suggesting a deeper cavern inside the mountain, or maybe even another plummet through the earth like the one in Shumi Village –although that was very unlikely.

Unfortunately though, sometimes even Fujin would not make out things she might have an eye for.

Fujin and Raijin did however understand that this room could not be all there was to the house. They began feeling around on either side of the doorway that they had entered through. They went through the basic procedure they had learned as junior classmen of rubbing the walls, running your fingers in vertical and horizontal directions to find creases, and rapping on the wall to detect hollowness.

The wall of the entry way, the adjacent walls, the floor and the ceiling of course came up fruitless. And Raijin of course was the one who insisted on checking the floor and ceiling, and Raijin was of course the one who comically and harmlessly fell from checking the ceiling more than once.

Fujin shook her head at Raijin when he rubbed his head and grinned awkwardly having just fallen down again. At least he's finished she thought. Raijin had unnecessarily confirmed finally that the ceiling had nothing to share. Fujin went back to the wall opposite the door and ran her fingers along the wall firmly and did her best to ignore how cold the walls were.

Once her fingers finally came to the crease in the wall, and once she could plainly see it she felt rather embarrassed instantly. She ignored herself though and traced the crease to the floor. Once she confirmed that it did indeed begin in the floor she inserted one finger nail into it and ran it up the wall. Her finger nail stopped perhaps two heads taller than her, then it ran across a few feet, and then down to the floor again.

It was another doorway obviously and this news gave Fujin some newfound hope. If it was then she may be able to end her mission days, even weeks sooner than she had anticipated.

"Raijin I found a doorway," Raijin finally stood up upon hearing this and joined Fujin in front of the newfound entryway.

Raijin knocked on the space within the rectangular crease and the sound that came up was noticeably hollower than the other areas in the room.

"How're we going to get through?"

"… I haven't thought about that," she said thoughtfully and placed one fist against her chin and the other arm under her elbow.

The first thing she thought of was to slice into the creases with her shuriken but it was possible that she would cut into something of importance. It was much like cutting a package or envelope to close to the center and damaging the goods inside. Although there was nothing of importance they could think of off the top of their heads but it was still possible. So she eschewed that thought and tried to think of something safer.

But as Fujin focused on a safe way to enter the doorway Raijin was un-strapping the gladiator staff from his back and he struck the center of the doorway with one end of his weapon. The sound was so loud that Fujin flinched and nearly fell on her ass herself.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" she yelled accusingly and felt aggravated when Raijin didn't flinch they way he normally did when she took her tone of authority with him.

Raijin blinked at her innocently and shrugged, his weapon looking particularly large from her point of view.

"I thought it was worth a try," he said as if she had not just shrieked at him.

Fujin collected her attention and brought it back to the doorway. It looked like the Knob-less-door had caved in a bit when Raijin hit it. She put her shoulder and her weight against it and it was pushed further inside. Fujin then took a step back, charged shoulder first-

"SHIT!"

-and fell directly into the next room. She hopped up so she was sitting up right and she tenderly rubbed the shoulder that she had fallen on. Raijin peaked through the doorway as if it were a well that she had fallen into, and then he stepped inside with her.

"You know I would have just hit it again," he said reasonably, and this time he had the sense to look worried when she sent a hostile glare his way.

The room they had entered was less of a room and more of a cave. It seemed to lead fairly deep into the mountain which led them to believe that the first room was more for show than anything else. Raijin helped Fujin stand up then he strapped his weapon back to his back and they began their trek uncertain of how long it would last.

As they traveled further and further into the cave Fujin took the time to notice how abnormal and frankly appealing the passage looked. There were torches to light the way which further implied that there were living people in here. And from the look of things the passage had been not mined, but _melted_ into the shape of a tunnel. The rock matter was smooth and had swirling patterns in certain areas. And some spots seemed to reflect what light there was in the tunnel.

It must have been a half hour before they spotted the door. Fujin felt fine, perhaps almost short of breath, but Raijin was pathetic enough to walk with his staff like a walking stick. They stopped in front of the door and Raijin looked very grateful and Fujin had to resist her urge to 'Tut' with her tongue a few times. It was true that Fujin loved Raijin like the brother he had proven to be for her, but sometimes he was nothing short of laughable.

That was of course not to say that he never pulled through.

Fujin cleared her throat for preparation of speaking in her sterner one word sentence voice for she would soon be in the company of somebody other than Raijin, then she rapped on the door.

At first there was no sound at all, there was no indication that there was not a human or even a room behind the door. But just before Fujin chose to rap the door again a sound was heard, and it was certainly not a sound that they were expecting.

Beyond the door was the sound of another person rapping at the door. At this the pair exchanged their respected confused looks and at once brought there attention back to the door when the same sound erupted again. Fujin was stumped, what were we supposed to do in case the door knocks back she thought? Did we even cover that in class?

Fujin shook her head, of course they didn't that would have been absurd. She thought to knock on the door once more but she stopped herself. It had already been established that there were people on the other side of the door and that they were aware that they were there. She would have to speak.

As if something had been tossed into her throat like a ball through a hoop she opened her mouth but did not speak. It suddenly occurred to her that Terra may not be the person behind this door, which would mean that the Shumi Elder was a loony and with her unnecessary and mild Shumi prejudice she was prepared to assume that if the opportunity knocked.

At the thought of knocking the person on the other side of the door rapped again and in that moment Fujin thought-

_Screw it._

And so she spoke.

"WHO?" she barked and at once wondered if that one word would suffice rather than confuse or intimidated whomever was behind the door.

There was a long pause where Fujin and Raijin both thought that she had only alarmed the person. It took so long at one point that they began thinking that the person had backed away or retreated entirely somehow. But then there was a voice, a lilting beautiful voice that could only be made out the faintest bit, so beautiful that it could not come from anything or anyone that was entirely human.

They stood on the other side feeling awkward for being distracted by the voice, and then they felt further awkward when they realized they had not caught what the voice had said. Fujin opened her mouth to speak again and Raijin then dared to put a hand over her mouth, then, summoning further guile he spoke for her in a way the hidden person could understand.

"We're looking for somebody named Terra ya know" There was another pause and Fujin swiped Raijins hand from her mouth.

A loud sound was heard coming from the door and slowly, it opened inwardly. Once the impressively thick door swung completely open Fujin and Raijin had to squint through a much brighter light. A dainty and rather pale hand ushered them inside and without considering that there could be enemies afoot they walked inside.

It was much warmer in the hidden room. They noticed once their eyes adjusted that both the light and the warmth was thanks in part to a roaring fire in a fireplace, which raised the question, 'What the hell is a fireplace doing in the middle of a mountain?'

Near the fireplace there were four children. Perhaps in the ball park of eight of seven years old, but it was doubtful that any of them had broken the two digit barrier. There were two girls and two boys, each one was rosy cheeked and only one of the boys had shed all of his baby fat. Both girls were blonde, one with a long braid and the other with bangs that hung like a shield over her eyes. One boy was brown haired and in rather baggy clothes, and the last boy was the slim one, as swarthy as Raijin and the one farthest away from the fire place.

Raijin seemed particularly interested in the condition of the children. He approached them at once and kindheartedly asked each of them how they were feeling and if there was anything in the way of food that they hadn't had recently enough.

Leaving Raijin to his niceties Fujin brought her attention to the owner of the hand that might have been as white as her own.

It wasn't for too long but Fujin was sure that her heart had stopped beating once she had a look at the woman. At once Fujin caught her breath as privately as she could and she forced herself to focus again. The woman was instantly recognizable as Terra; She wore robes mostly of red and white, the shape of her hips and breasts were easily made out, her skin was indeed rather pale and almost glowed –but that might have been from the fire and the dark environment- her green hair were much like curls of green ribbon and that face…

… that face that was so beautiful was clearly not just human. No human looked quite that way, there were no human features slanted and shaped at such angles. Fujin was surprised that Raijin hadn't noticed her sooner than the children and rushed into his 'Charmer mode' which had never been effective enough for him.

Fujin felt her nipples stiffen instantly from something more internal than the cold and so she crossed her arms over her chest.

Uncharacteristically Fujin blinked rapidly and tried to find her voice, or rather her other voice, the barking tone of voice she always took when in the majority of her company. But for once she couldn't quite summon it; it was like she was trying to cough up a pink rabbit instead of speaking normally.

Terra was looking perplexed as if she were going to ask Fujin what was wrong with her. And in that moment, only for the sake of sparing herself from embarrassment Fujin allowed the metaphorical pink bunny rest in her esophagus.

"My name is Fujin Saeta," she began so clearly that Raijin looked to her from his spot by the children. "We are SeeDs, mercenaries from an academic organization called Balamb Garden." Fujin gave pause then to allow Terra to digest the information, and to allow Raijin to digest that she had just spoken normally to a complete stranger.

Fujin made out a displeased glint in Terra's eyes, and thinking back to the fact that she was half magical force, and thinking back to the tunnel and how it was likely created by magic, Fujin suddenly felt no shame for feeling afraid.

She would have however felt shame for showing it, so she stood her ground and met Terra's displeased yet pleasant glint with confidence. Terra looked to be constructing her sentence in her head before saying it, and in this way she earned some respect from Fujin. If she was then she wasn't a person who simply opened her mouth to every thought like something going in one end of a pipe and directly out of the other one.

"You are the people who captured my father," she said accusingly but still Fujin could not bring herself to be angry or entirely afraid of the woman, her countenance was too peaceful, and… smooth if that were possible.

"Yes, Maduin has been with us for a long time now, he has proved a great asset to us," Fujin did her very best to sound respectful of Maduin for Terra, despite the fact that she was admitting that her organization had taken him and were now essentially using him as a weapon.

Terra was not completely impressed by Fujin's shot at respect, however she didn't seem as inclined to reduce them to vapor as she did moments ago. In the next moment Fujin thought that she would need to spend the next uncertain amount of time convincing Terra to come with them. But in the next moment Terra surprised her, and Raijin, and even the children.

"You will take me to him," she said certainly, suggesting that there was no alternative in the matter.

Fujin blinked and shortly considered the situation, and then she took this opportunity to her advantage.

"Of course we will," Said Fujin sincerely.

Terra cast a short but suspicious glance Fujins way then brought her attention to the children. The swarthy child stood up then and made his way with grace most children would need to wait twenty years for.

"Momma Terra," he addressed politely.

Terra kneeled in front of the child and segued into a smile sweet Fujin didn't seem to deserve.

"Dakon dear, you call me your caretaker; I am not your mother." Seeing the whitest of women say this to a dark child reminded of a children's story where a bat was raised by birds. She and Raijin nearly cracked grins watching this.

"Okay caretaker Terra," he began with his same pleased child's voice "the air feels different, is something going to happen?" after he said this he looked at Fujin and Raijin briefly to confirm that they weren't sure what he was talking about "'cause you know you taught us that the air feels different when something important is about to happen."

"Yes Dakon, something is about to happen." Terra beamed proudly but she ignored Fujin and Rajin's confusion on the matter. "We're going to move somewhere else for a while."

The children looked very excited to hear that and with good reason Raijin and Fujin thought. To be a quartet of young children cooped up in such a small secluded area with apparently nothing to do must have been hell.

Immediately the children burst out with what sounded like a thousand questions, with voices of eight and nine but only coming from four, it was the sort of thing that would drive any human mad with enragement and *misopedia.

Certainly no human could withstand it, which was why Terra was there for them.

"Children, children," she said almost audibly over the little din, and although that key word was 'almost' the children stopped slowly, as if they were unsure of whether Terra really wanted them to stop their questions or not.

Terra settled herself only when the children had made a complete silence and then she addressed Fujin as if to signal that the children were not to say anything more.

"I will not allow these children to go to an institution that steals spirits for military purposes," Terra declared clearly without leaving even a touch of room for argument. "If there is a safe place for them to be then we will go, otherwise I will be forced to escort you away." Fujin and even Raijin were sure that by 'escort' she meant 'force' or perhaps 'blow.'

Thinking back to the corridor and its patterns that had obviously been imprinted by powerful destructive magic, and considering how compassionate Terra felt towards these children, Fujin had no doubt that Terra would hesitate to destroy them. Or rather try to destroy them, for even against a guardian force she and Raijin were not entirely helpless. But with this mission they required a certain amount of cooperation from Terra, for she was only half Guardian Force and so they had no idea if they could take her into their minds like she was a spirit.

They had to assume that she was strictly a physical entity that had the powerof a spirit. And although they would not have expected someone of half Guardian Force descent to have very great power, thinking back to the corridor again it was obvious that she did. She was the equivalent of a sorceress perhaps; perhaps this was what a sorceress was, having not inherited their powers from another one.

For once Fujin felt very concerned for her situation. She needed to obtain this woman but she could think of no way to meet her demands. What were they supposed to do with these children exactly? They couldn't just ignore her demands and make them come to the Garden with them, for Terra seemed set on starting combat for their sake if they were to try that. They needed a place to stay while the adults conducted their 'businesses.'

What were they supposed to do exactly? She thought sardonically. They couldn't go anywhere in Galbadia that was for sure. Balamb might have been fine for it was nearby but they could not go there for the same reason, even Fishermen's Horizon was out of the question. Were they to just fly around the world for a while, navigating the landscape until they came across some… random… orphanage...?

Raijin spoke her thoughts before she could.

"We know of an orphanage where we could drop them, it's full of kids all the time and the caretakers are good people," Raijin said with surprising eloquence, the kind that would knock most people off of their feet had they known Raijin as an acquaintance.

Terra seemed to be pleased; she was obviously not a woman who perceived imaginary deceptions.

"Wonderful. Come children, put on your Snow Lion robes we're leaving the cave."

The children looked much like a group that had been told that they were going to a roller coaster park, and Terra the good parent was looking pleased upon giving them the news. The children rushed to one side of the cave room that looked like various piles of furs. There were five rectangular arrangements that looked much like beds, and atop them were other furry garments that nobody was wearing. Terra herself approached the same area and took the largest garment and wrapped it tightly around her self as the children were doing with their cloaks.

Fujin couldn't help but think that this was orchestrated. Of course she didn't believe that, but everything had happened so easily, and so smoothly. She didn't want to think that there was some powerful and/or divine force arranging her mission for her. But she almost, almost thought that was what was happening, no mission was ever easy, even if it was on the level of recruitment or rescue mission as this one was.

It was Terra's form -which still looked lovely even under six inches of Snow Lion hide- that swung Fujin from her irritated thoughts.

"We are ready," she said with a smile that Fujin would not have expected to earn from the woman, certainly not after how defensive she had been only minutes ago.

Fujin nodded to her and held the door open for her and the children. "Of course," she said and she cleared her throat. Fujin only took her hand from the door when Raijin was beside her; they exited the doorway nearer each other than they were to the children and Terra, and so Raijin looked at her not accusingly like Seifer might have, but curiously. He was wondering why she had spoken normally to Terra, and he probably wanted her to confess the moment they were in private company again. But Fujin decided then and there that he would have to find out for himself for he would find out that way eventually. There were times when, to Raijin, she was transparent like the wind she commanded.

**Docking**

Balamb Garden had contacted the Esthar airport at eight hundred hours from the peninsula between Trabia and Esthars grand forest area. It was now nearly noon and they would soon be passing through the through the great pink fence and into Estharian territory where they would be safer from the Galbadian forces than they had been in years.

This was not that they were ever too great a threat in the past. They had managed well enough to avoid direct conflict with Esthar when sending SeeDs on missions and Cadets on field exams enough of the Whelps had been built. But it was still more comfortable to be in Esthar since Galbadia still saw a great threat from the hidden country.

Quistis was relieved to finally be back but she wasn't entirely happy. A student had spilt some very hot very sugary coffee on her silk vest and she hadn't had time to wash it. Also the heat from the fluid had burnt the skin in her right breast and so she felt a distinctly sandpapery pain on the soft flesh when it rubbed against the grains of sugar inside her purple garment.

But the sight of their landmarks near the Estharian shield helped her forget about that troublesome pain. They did not seem like the most memorable things but to her eyes they were a sweet sight indeed. They were only rock formations, and not necessarily of distinct shape or color, but SeeDs of her rank were trained to recognize them, and every time they did this she was happy that they did.

Quistis was in the cockpit with Xu and a female SeeD who had graduated after the last field exam. Since it was foolish to have only one person in the world who knew how to fly such a vessel, Xu had suggested to Nida that he train people who could stand in for him. For times when he had worked for a very long time and needed a break, or when he needed to wash or nourish himself… or sleep.

For more than any other reason it was Xu's not so well known affection for Nida that made her suggest that. It was of course for the sake of his well being, the man needed nourishment, and he needed lots of sleep and he normally didn't get these things because piloting the Garden was a full time job, and of course until recently he had been reluctant to do it. Nidas desire for acknowledgment had become a very serious thing to him when he graduated those three years ago, and now that he was the pilot of the Garden he took great pride in it. Deep down he perhaps feared replacement, but lack of sleep was something that would catch up with anyone eventually and so he gave in.

It wasn't until Xu had asked to spend some time with him did he come to understand why it was good that he'd be spending time away from the golden lever. Because the truth was Xu wanted to fuck him.

He had asked stupidly, but cutely at one point during their relationship why he couldn't still be the only pilot and date her as well and she explained to him very sweetly.

"It isn't fun to fuck somebody whose sleep deprived; I am not a woman who is willing to wrap my legs around the equivalent of a shaven sloth."

And that was all he had needed to hear.

Quistis was grateful for it even though she wasn't fond of hearing about Nida and Xu's sex life –especially since she heard them because she was Xu's neighbor, which was another infuriation all together. It was good to have new pilots even though the training was dangerous for anything surrounding the academy, but having new pilots meant always having an aware driver. Also, Nidas flying performance had improved noticeably for some reason…

B-Garden halted at once when the trainee pulled back on the human sized lever. They had reached their final landmark -which was a swirl of rock on one side of a rock wall resembling a human nose- now all that was left on their part was to give their signal.

On the balcony overlooking whatever landscape the left side of the Garden had to offer there was a SeeD or PesticidE carrying a flare gun. Not a Flare gun, the weapon designed to carry the non elemental magic in it for certain combat emergencies, but a normal firework type of device. He or she would now be aiming the pistol to the right so as to strike directly in front of B-Garden and-

-that blue streak passed by the window as that thought passed between her ears. The fireball that would have blended in with the sky perfectly like white out spilt onto paper. Someone who had never seen this before would have been alarmed when the blue bolt splattered against what seemed to be nothing. Quistis was used to it, and even now after seeing it the times she had seen it before she still found it pleasant to watch.

To see it from the other side would certainly be interesting as well if it were possible, to see the flames closing in, then flattening against what looked like nothing. The invisible barrier was not a two way mirror, only those on the outside could see the effect of the barrier.

Actually it was not so much invisibility as it was an image displayed. An invisible barrier would completely defeat the purpose of having a barrier because that would permit people to see through it and to the great blue city beyond.

Registering the signal the Estharians inside activated the slide sliding gateway. It was strange to see it opening even now. It began as a vertical black line and gradually it expanded to one side almost like unrolling the greatest illustration of the metropolis on a giant parchment. The sound as it opened was supposed to be absent the Estharians had said once, but still for some reason the door would always create an impressive behemothesque howl whenever it would open. It could be heard even in the cafeteria, and if you listened hard enough, it could even be heard in the walk in refrigerators.

And the sound although loud was not really so bad. People did not cover their ears when they entered Estharian territory; they simply looked up as if the sound were coming from the sky, although some people did choose to wince.

Once the doors howl subsided and once there was no motion they could make out the female pilot steadily pushed the lever at its mid point and the Garden floated through the passage.

Once B-Garden was away from the passage and after it had closed behind them Quistis remembered that she was part of the gracious party to meet with the president and his associates.

"I have to go, I'm supposed to be greeted with the others when we get there," she said to Xu who was standing on the opposite her by the elevator as she often did.

"Go ahead, she'll be fine, I'm not sure I'm even need to be here," said Xu offhandedly, she made a gesture with her hand and closed her eyes. "In fact," she pondered for a moment in the gesture. "I'm sure I'm not needed here, do you think you can handle it up here Sellee?" the pilot turned around and smiled at Xu but only for a moment before she spoke and turned back to her station like a good pilot.

"I'll be fine ma'am."

"Good," said Xu, and she and Quistis stepped on the elevator and descended together into the depressingly empty Headmasters office.

Xu had been spending an absurd amount of time away from her PesticidE duties to make up for Squall's absence. At first Quistis thought she was overworking herself and doing much work in both positions. But after she spoke with Savior about it he told her that Xu –although he had said zoo, not that Quistis would have noticed- had been spending less and less time attending to the PesticidE's. In all truth this was good news for the PesticidE's he had said –although it may have only been personal opinion- they were at the point now where they didn't quite need Xu anymore, they knew there duties and they knew how to maintain and take care of their quarters.

Xu, leaving the PesticidE's to their own devices as it were had approached the Head position as if it really did belong to her. Things were running smoother than ever at B-Garden, and in this way Quistis was almost glad that Squall was absent to do his job, almost.

They were in the elevator when Xu spoke before they parted ways.

"Saviors been away for a while," she stated as if the subject were only conversational.

"Yes," Quistis said simply and hoped that Xu would not take this very much further.

Each woman stood straight and side by side, and watched the elevator door as if they were staring into one another's faces.

"Maybe he won't come back," Xu said trying hard to keep any mirth or malice from her voice, and succeeding only nearly, and not quite enough.

Still Quistis tried not to lash out. She knew that Xu was only saying this out of her bias for Savior. Although she was a trainer and perhaps even a caretaker of what might have been numerous felons, convicts, any sort of criminal. Xu still had a mind for criminal cruelty and justice. Only she and the bodyguards themselves knew how hard and often she worked them, and how strict her rules for anything so much as living were.

Quistis had always assumed that she was particularly interested in Savior for some reason. Despite his reputation as the first and most valuable PesticidE Xu had never developed any kind of liking for him. And now that he and Quistis were showing affection for one another finally, Xu was going over the edge. In this way and only this way Quistis was happy that her friend had a lot of work to do, because that was what it took to keep encounters like these to a minimum. Xu wanted Savior away from her friend whether it was her business or not.

And since Savior technically was part of her job Xu liked to think that his relationship with Quistis was her business. It was an awful excuse to use but Xu was about as much a fairy godmother as Adel ever was.

"We'll see," Quistis stated plainly through teeth nearly gritted, and tugged nervously on the dirty spot on her vest.

Xu watched Quistis in their reflections in the elevator door and could not resist looking on her friend then in the physical.

"What happened to you?" she said seemingly forgetting about her more sadistic interest for sake of concern.

"Oh a student spilled hot coffee on me," she continued to tug on her vest, she found relief keeping the material off of her skin and she lamented that she would need to tolerate the unpleasant sensation when she would be greeted in a few moments.

The ding of the elevator sounded before Xu could make whatever pseudo point she wanted to make and Quistis strolled quickly out of the elevator before Xu could back into it, a wad of the purple silk in her hand.

As freshly infuriated as she was Quistis rushed as fast as her walk would go to the circular hallway on the second floor, she let go of her vest and at the point so close to her exit she decided that she should get used to the pain.

Xu had no right intruding on her relationship Quistis thought. She was being over protective for a friend or anyone for that matter. Quistis would not accept relationship criticism from even Matron and so that left out everyone else as well.

Quistis had always thought that relationships were of the private sort. She saw nothing wrong however with talking about it, discussing it; even bragging was acceptable to her. But criticism was not a far cry away from attempted dictatorship and so she avoided it like the plague.

"Howdy Quistis!"

Irvine's call got her attention and at once she was relieved that she had quit pawing her breast when she did. She put on the sweet smile she always wore for this sort of thing and joined Irvine in front of the exit where he stood alone.

"Howdy Irvine," she drawled trying to mock him knowing he wouldn't mind.

Irvine pretended to mind but his big grin gave away that he understood her joke. He put his hands on either hip and swaggered towards her as she approached the exit and they stopped before one another.

At first he looked very normal besides the grin, almost like he was about to hit on her again. But then he rushed to the back of her and at once Irvine was behind her and he had her in a head lock, and a rather embarrassing noogie.

"Irvine!" she screamed from under his arm, Irvine was quick, with a normal person she would have been eating her whip suggestively if they tried to get behind her for any reason, but Irvine could be quick sometimes, and rather elusive.

"What's the magic word," he said sing-song-like while continuing to rub his knuckles gently but furiously against her scalp and yellow tresses.

"Irvine is the pimp to end all pimps," she said with the decency to sound bored and disbelieving despite the infuriating sensation on her scalp, she had almost forgotten the burn on her tit.

Irvine let go at once and silently gloated that he had gotten Quistis to say that. He leaned against the doorway with tipped his hat over his eyes for his mock lone wolf pose. Quistis straightened her hair and her stance but decided that retying her braid would be too much trouble.

"So Irvine," she said in a tone to suggest that she would let him get away with the noogie. "Who else will be greeted with us this fine day?"

"Selphie and Zell, Rinny has some stuff to do in the Infirmary right now."

Hearing him mention Rinoa Quistis placed a hand to her skirt pocket, where she held the only thing that Squall had left behind when he vanished. She had told Quistis that she was afraid that she'd lose it, and so she'd handed it over to the blonde.

"Are they late? I thought that I was."

"They must be, but they can't be out there yet." He knocked the door absently with one hand then crossed the other over his chest.

Almost as if there were a butler who was summoned by way of door knocking the sound of footsteps sounded from the other side of the door. Irvine pushed on the brim of his hat and looked at Quistis so they would mirror their amazement. There was not supposed to be anyone on the other side of the exit, the vehicle was still moving even now, they were supposed to meet then exit together once they felt the Garden stop so it couldn't be them-

The door slid open and Selphie and Zell, like a pair of stooges popped their heads into the hallway and had the gall to look annoyed by Irvine and Quistis.

"What the hell are you guys doing out here?" Selphie demanded.

"Us, out here, what the hell are you two doing out there? We're not supposed to go outside until Garden stops!" Quistis exclaimed.

There was a loud lurch and a sound they could hear only because the door was open. It was not unlike the behemoth sound of the gate but instead it resembled more of multiple grendels. This was the sound that the rings of the Garden made when they settled for landing.

Each one of them pressed their hands on either side of their heads as hard as they could. If Quistis wasn't mistaken Zell was grimacing the most, perhaps he was thinking of repairs that needed to be done on the Garden to keep it from making such awful sounds, an oiling would make sense.

The sound ended before Quistis noticed. Irvine had to take her hands from her head for her before she even noticed that the others were waiting for her. They giggled at her for a little bit but only until they were all outside of the exit.

Outside they had effectively docked at the Esthar Air Station. The docking area for B-Garden was an area designated for B-Garden. Laguna had it built years ago against Squalls wishes as a constant invitation for Estharian residence. Or in this case a visit.

The dock itself was very unique. The Garden was to land beside it with its left side facing the area. As it descended the Garden settled inside a great blue nest of reversed magnets designed to keep the Garden afloat while it rested and recharged any exhausted power supplies. These magnets flipped over almost at once the Garden was detected, it looked much like the inward solar panel dome in FH but with circular panels and visible circuitry between them.

If B-Garden was a living creature it would be sighing gratefully now. Certain areas inside of it creaked and moaned, recharging features flickered to life and through line-thin spines from the docking area it accepted repairs.

The quartet stepped off of their home and over the bridge connecting their current home with what they considered their second home. Just as they were informed the entrance of the actual air station sported guards on either side of the entrance, and in front of that entrance stood two of the three welcoming officials they were expecting.

Side by side stood Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac, they were the best friends and advisors of President Laguna Loire. They were typically dressed in their flowing Estharian robes and stood just where they were meant too. Except they were supposed to be on either side of the President, and where the President was supposed to be there was void.

Quistis thought they might have been reflecting their own looks of concern since Squall was not with him and normally he was meant to be greeted thusly. He and Laguna were supposed to be there so that Laguna could strive to be polite and so Squall could be a prude about it.

"Where is Squall?" "Where is Laguna?"

They paused on the bridge when the simultaneous questions came out, but then they finished approaching their morose greeters.

"Squall is not with us right now," Quistis said darkly before Kiros could speak again.

"Laguna is the same," he said.

The gravity of the situation suddenly dawned on each party. Without even announcing or describing yet how it had happened, they understood what had happened to one another. But somebody needed to make the verbal confirmation. The possibility of difference needed to be vaporized now.

"It was a golden light wasn't it?" asked Kiros, everybody's mood was now as dark as his hair.

Quistis approached Kiros then and reached into her pocket. She pulled out the upper half of Squall's cell phone and showed it to Kiros. Kiros, after descending his eyebrows reached into his robes and pulled out the upper half of Laguna's cell phone. They presented the items to one another in a way so that the others would see them. Although it was little more than an omen now, something was frightening about the similarities when it came right down to details like cell phones halves.

Selphie bit back a Wonder Twins remark.

_**EG**_

Kids always seemed to get themselves caught on their first major mission. Over the years Savior had come to understand this as an inevitable happening. Even Squall and his fellow heroes were caught; in fact their capture had made history thanks to the great mouth of Zell Dintch.

At first he tried to save his groups from capture, but he was only one man although a skilled one and a group of three teenagers had to fend for themselves to a certain degree. To guard one person like Quistis never resulted in capture. Especially since Quistis was a skilled warrior herself.

Eventually Savior had given up on rescuing them outright. He would allow them to be captured, the enemy would usually use sleeping darts or something like these ones had. Then he would allow them to wake up, realize their situation, and then feel ashamed about it for a while before they got a grip on themselves again, and then and only then would he bother to assist them.

It was in this way Cody, Grave and Joselyn had surprised him. They were already awake, and they were already sharpening their tongues on their adversaries. They had effectively bypassed the third step and even added a few others including sarcasm and lack of cooperation with their enemy. Their client, like some SeeDs he could name that he had guarded in the past was not even awake yet.

After being captured the SeeDs and Miss Ostentat were collected in a van rented by the Ostentat's own car rental building outside of town then they were brought to the Tomb of the Unknown King. Savior himself –much like the ninja Cody apparently saw him as- jumped onto the back of the van as they took off, then when they finally stopped in the tombs entrance he dove away and hid in the brush.

He was grateful when the ride was finally over. Despite being a very fit person his arms hurt very much after clinging to a moving vehicle for dear life for about an hour and a half.

The four teenagers were then carried inside the tomb. Savior had followed them and found himself hiding just before the bridge of the central tomb; he was in a crevice in the wall just near the entrance.

Needless to say it was awfully unnerving for him to reenter the Tomb of the Unknown King, and alone this time to boot. Although it was really the accidental fault of another that cost him his eye a year and a half ago that did not rule out the possibility of similar injuries to happen. And now near enemies as they were, an injury like the one he had sustained before would be even more serious. But he pressed on, and wishing he would wipe the sweat from his brow he managed to avoid any and all traps on his way to the central tomb.

In their time spent at the Ostentat residence and really Deling City as a whole they had forgotten it was winter. Deling didn't seem to see much charm for the season besides the holiday and had the snow and ice removed with low level magic and other such things by the soldiers. Even the perimeter around Deling was kept warm so as to keep the grass around it green. Their landing area had been alarmingly barren of snow when they landed and he had not even noticed.

This was why he was so alarmed to see the lake around the central tomb was frozen and flat. There were bars in the entryway of the central tomb now, and that was where his protectees were held captive. Surprisingly they looked to be lounging about. Lesser SeeDs would have been outwardly worrying or even crying at this point, but these teenagers had the gall to look uninterested.

Savior's respect for each of them morbidly went up a notch for that. It was true that now was not the time for arrogance, but this kind of indifference for the enemy had to be admired.

Around them were men and woman –and one small girl- dressed in Garden uniforms –the girl excluded. Most of them stood on the ice but the one who seemed to be their leader was on the bridge speaking directly with Joselyn and company. They were looking very arrogant, they obviously felt superior because they outnumbered their enemies and had captured them rather easily.

Savior was grateful for that. This would only make them easier to defeat, especially with SeeDs as sure of themselves as Joselyn and her squad were.

_*the word marked thusly is not a word. It is derived from Greek and/or Latin roots and means, 'hatred of children.' I just had to coin it._

_I recently realized that this story is beyond novel length at this point. Goes to show what happens when you include every little thing you think of huh? Incidentally, if anybody notices a downhill in my work don't hesitated to inform me, even though this story is finished now._


	8. Merry Bloody Christmas!

_Disclaimer and A/N: I do not own Squaresoft or any of it's products or any of the individual properties of said products, I do not own the characters, I do not own the employees of this company, I do not own the first born child of the said employees. As a fair warning I should tell all of you that Grave will do something in this chapter that may make you guys dislike him, just a warning. My local friend Branden takes credit for the idea of the WeeDs._

_In the darkest hole you'd be well advised, not to plan my funeral before the body dies._

_Come the morning light it's a see through show, what you may have heard and what you think you know._

_Let the sun never blind your eyes, let me sleep so my teeth won't grind, hear a sound from a voice inside._

_Sure to play a part, so you love the game, and in truth your lies become one in same._

_I could set you free; rather hear the sound of your body breaking as I take you down._

_Let the sun never blind your eyes, let me sleep so my teeth won't grind, hear a sound from a voice inside._

_In the darkest hole you be well advised, not to plan my funeral before the body dies._

_Let the sun never blind your eyes, let me sleep so my teeth won't grind, hear a sound from a voice inside._

_Grind by Alice In Chains_

**Part Eight: Merry Bloody Christmas Everybody!**

**The Demons Brittle Cage**

Never before have I felt such vacancy in a room so full. True, when there is a great opening like our doorway you will feel greater clarity, be it only fresher air or more sunlight. But it's not that, for there is no sunlight, and the air is too cold to be refreshing. It's overwhelming, and now after we've been in this tomb for so long it has become painful.

No, the vacancy has to be something else. The coffin in this room is large, and there are four of us in a space fit for perhaps eight. Yet it feels emptier in here than it should. There must have been something here once that took up much space, perhaps something in the coffin was sealed there. And if sealed there that would mean that its very countenance would take up spiritual space in this stone room. And now there is nothing, it's rather peaceful.

It's disturbing to feel so peaceful in here, to be so confined and so near our enemies and to feel so without worry regardless. I can tell that Joselyn is fretting for she is doing it outwardly now, she's resorting to sparking up a cigarette and she curses when she can't summon up a flame to light it with.

Apparently the enemy drew all of our magic from us as well as our Guardian Forces. Of course they took our weapons as well. Unfortunately our opponents are not as foolish and ill informed as our clients are. A pity that.

I can't help but wonder where the hell Savior is. Here we are, three days after our landing, mostly unarmed and inside a caged king's tomb, and he hasn't so much as shown us his latex clad toes.

I want to think he's nearby but I can't rely on that. Bodyguards are nice but they obviously can't be counted upon for everything. Even rescue from imprisonment… but that doesn't sound quite right, if Savior in fact lives up to his name like Joselyn says he does.

I have felt indebted to him ever since she told me about his saving her from our rogue PesticidE Carbuncle during our field exam. Although my feelings for Joselyn were not quite strong back then, I still felt grateful that she would still be around for me.

I failed to mention it –and by 'failed to' I of course mean 'neglected'- but back then I did the typical thing of blaming myself. If I ever spoke with Cody about this he would likely tell me that it wasn't my fault because I wasn't there. But that is precisely what bothers me, had I followed protocol and not jumped out of the Whelp before it landed –actually I think that's more a safety precaution… whatever- then I would have been with her to watch out for Carbuncle.

Or would I? She probably would have ordered me to go to the fountain area anyway… I shouldn't give this anymore thought. I'll probably develop something of an endless masochism circle or something.

I really wish Joselyn would quit smoking, or at least start smoking the kind that isn't saturated repeatedly in sugar and poison. At least that kind only develops resin in you and nothing permanently offensive-

"All right folks what's your mission," says a voice more authoritative than it really needs to be.

I have lost track of our enemies information thinking about bodyguards and pretty girls it seems. Upon waking we were hinted at the origins of our enemies, but we've been too busy sharpening our tongues and lounging about to speak with these people.

Once we came to we expected to see more enemies. And we certainly didn't expect the familiar quality of their uniforms to be so close to home. There are a total of ten human beings around us now, nine are adult, and those nine are dressed as, Joselyn and I may have dressed had we attended B-Garden younger –Cody excluded because he was at B-Garden even at a young age.

The nine adults are dressed in old B-Garden Cadet uniforms. They look only a bit beyond our years, they are probably about as old as the heroes -Quistis and company. Despite their valor they do not look very healthy, or clean. Their uniforms have not been taken well care of; they are only good enough so that we can tell where they're from.

The only thing very outstanding about the uniforms is this. On the symbol of B-Garden on the sleeves –a patch that even I wear on my jacket often- there is a slash down the middle to separate the black and the white of the symbol.

The loathing there is not lost on me or my comrades, and we are indeed worried about what their location in Galbadia implies. But we –or at least I- can't help but laugh inside since that is no longer Balamb Gardens symbol.

Joselyn being our assigned leader feels that she should be the mediator.

"To track you guys down," she said with some siphoned dignity and she puffed her cigarette to give our enemies their giggling time, I wonder how she lit that? "And capture or kill you," she finished sounding non-threatening.

Obviously our enemy's apparent leader detected her hostility anyway, for tone is part of language, and sadly most people only identify with words.

"Well you guys don't make very good mercenaries do you?" their apparent leader says almost sweetly, like fruit that's almost rotten and sapped of fructose.

He looks suspiciously sure of himself and that may be partially with good reason. He's a well built individual, rather tall and he's even managed to keep his crew cut neat despite leaving his outfit to the moths. He's healthy and he does have us outnumbered, but that doesn't quite mean checkmate. His group sniggers behind him, all looking haggard but proud just as he does.

But that little girl really stands out to me, she isn't behaving at all like these people, why is she even here?

"We're hearing this from a group wearing cadet uniforms," I say loudly, feeling like the cold in my lungs is muting me.

His expression turns sour like the fruit he would speak.

"You're the one in the cage kid." He does not look so satisfied with the sniggers behind him now.

"Did you even graduate?" Cody asks making him self known; he has been unusually quiet ever since he woke up with us.

That is a good point I think, they are wearing cadet uniforms after all. After a moment of hesitation and some ungratified whispers from his group the leader speaks again.

"No," he says with unmistakable yet not understandable dignity. "When Garden Master Norg tried to rebel against Cid three years ago we joined him," he pauses for a moment to stare at us each in turn; he's breathing heavily probably from the cold. Then after that failed we rebelled again when G-Garden and B-Garden collided"

"Did anyone notice?" Joselyn says arrogantly and lets the gray smoke drift attractively out of her nose like blood might without gravity, Hyne I wish she didn't look so sexy when she smokes, I don't want to think that she's sexy when she's breathing poison.

The leader doesn't say anything which leads us to believe that they were not a very impressive bunch even the second time around. Maybe they should simply appoint a new leader?

"That doesn't matter anymore," he says meaningfully, "you're in custody of WeeDs now…"

"Wait a minute!" Cody interrupts and surprisingly gets the man to silence, he even raises his palm flat to the guy to signal he must be quiet "Did you just say WeeDs?" he asks disbelievingly.

"Yes," the enemy says matter of fact.

"You're continuing the weird plant theme that we do?" he's obviously saying we referring to Garden rather than us, Cody and I have always agreed that the plant theme with titles and such was rather strange especially since nobody ever bothered to explain it.

In fact I recall a few times in class when a student would ask the teacher what the hell was up with names like SeeD, and Garden, and PesticidE. 'Why were the graduates called the SeeDs?' They would ask. 'Why not call the junior classmen SeeDs and the cadets BusHes?' Then another student would jump in saying the elite should be called OchUs, or MarlborOs. They would elevate the voices at the final sound value as well. This usually earned detention. The point is nobody thought it was cool, so for renegade cadets to continue that theme when they were no longer under Garden jurisdiction was laughable.

Joselyn blows an impressive amount of smoke and frosty breath from her mouth looking for all the world like a blue mage with a Snow Lions breath weapon. "You capitalize the D don't you?" she asks dismally.

"Yeah," he says impatiently and tries to ignore our laughter.

"You guys are retarded," Joselyn says not so dismally and finishes her cigarette with one long suck and without so much as glancing she flicks in the direction of our slumbering client.

How is Joselyn regaining her cool? Is that cigarette to her frayed nerves as her icy scent is to my mutated ones? Or has she simply stopped caring that we are imprisoned? I hope it is the third preference, worrying only works in the enemies favor after all.

"Just stay put, we'll find a way to dispose of all of you soon," he hefts a broad saber he was leaning against onto his shoulder and walks to one corner of the frozen floor with his underlings. Their talk becomes quiet but is unmistakably discussion.

In the corner our client stirs and the dialogue we have all been dreading will no doubt spurt forth soon. If she were rising from her silken queen sized bed she would probably be uninterested in sitting up, but this floor is made of stone and feels much like granulated ice. She forces herself to sit up and she stands at once leaving only Cody and me sitting on the floor.

Cornucopia is the very vision of distress right now. The scant outfit she wore when she tried to seduce me is not exactly the proper apparel for frozen tomb imprisonment. Why couldn't these villains have the decency to set these bars in one of the rooms _inside_ of the tomb? Were they so nutty as to think that their prisoners should be as miserable as possible?

"Cissy get over here," one of the women –maybe the mother, or an older sister even- is speaking urgently from the circle.

I glance in the direction the woman is speaking and there I see the girl, Cissy must be her name. Cissy has for some reason not seen fit to join the adults with their discussion. Obviously these adults don't mind if she listens since this woman is calling to her. But the child must have a mind of her own or at least a mind that belongs to this woman but wanders. She is focused on me which is only predictable. Tonight, I am popular with women for once.

"Cissy!" the woman repeats and this time I catch a glimpse of her; like the girl her hair is brown, it curls as it grows from the scalp but straightens once past the ears, they share a button nose and mid sized eyes. I have trouble making out the other features, but this woman has to be the little girl's mother.

Perhaps this woman got knocked up at Garden and was appalled by whatever rules they might have for pregnant women. Like ostracizing, that might be it. That may be good reason for rebellion, if you think that the academy could handle you and possibly other students having children before they even graduate.

The girl is still looking at me. She is so intent, it's like she's window shopping for a toy she covets but without the children's smile or the glint in her eyes. She must want me for some reason, maybe…

"Hey!" Comes a hoarse and shivering voice from across the tomb.

"What is it Cornucopia?" I ask shivering and stuttering yet I must admit I sound more bored with her than I feel.

"Well," she exaggerates with a flip of her tongue. "I'm fucking freezing, can one of you give me a jacket or something?" she looks to Joselyn and her trench coat, which, for some reason, the sleeves are still rolled up.

"Give me your trench coat," Cornucopia demands.

Joselyn looks furiously at her empty pack of cigarettes and obviously is ignoring Cornucopia on purpose. I think that Cornucopia will need to get one of my crowbars and pry that thing off of her before she could have it for herself.

Joselyn tosses the empty pack through the bars perhaps to see if she can do it without the pack bouncing back at her from inside the bars and she says coolly. "We don't offer that service."

I see Cody looking up astonished. First to Joselyn who continues to face the wall I'm leaning against, then he catches eyes with me. I can't help my self; I smile like the villain Joselyn likes to play so often. He looks appalled but I'm sure he won't hold this against me. Cody knows very well how much Joselyn hates Cornucopia, and how I'm not quite fond of her. Besides, the nice guy thing is _his_ shtick and he knows it.

"You can have my jacket Miss Ostentat," he stands and removes his jacket, Cornucopia, who's legs look as useless as J-ELLO alive with electricity refuse to move rather than vibrate, so Cody approaches her and throws her jacket across her shoulders. She gives him a nod of recognition and shivers the first nonsensical thing that comes to her head, or perhaps it only passes through her lips.

It was probably an insult that only the female animal can make out because Joselyn sneers at her at once. Cornucopia, true to her character takes notice and makes a face herself that's not nearly as threatening.

"What's your problem?" Cornucopia stutters out audibly somehow.

"I'm not going to say," Joselyn says still looking at the wall to keep her countenance just same the temperature as the lake.

Cornucopia huffs and rolls her eyes and locates herself to a corner where it might be warmer. Joselyn, who is as she usually is, the object of my attention, remains leaning against the wall with her sleeves rolled up. Seeming like she isn't cold but the cold induced tears I see on her eyes say otherwise.

I admit that I did not pass our tests with flying colors –at least not the tests concerning combat, Guardian Force history or anything that Quistis taught- but I'm pretty sure that an ideal leader would be doing something right now. True, things look very bleak with all of our weapons removed and extracted from us and our bodyguard's absence certainly doesn't help. But that doesn't necessarily mean there is no way out.

As stupid as that sounds it's all I have for her, she needs encouragement right now. I stand and take the three steps to stand in front of her. She looks at me curiously and blinks, she obviously forgot about her tears because she curses once they slide out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Her cheeks are very rosy in the cold.

Before the tears can touch her lips I bunch up the material of my long white shirt sleeve and I stroke the tears off of her face. I try to do it as softly as I can because I don't want to just smear the tears.

As I finish dabbing her eyelids dry she smiles at me that sweet smile that I want so much to lick off. Not off perhaps, then I might not see the smile again, but I do want my tongue on that mouth…

Joselyn snaps her fingers before my eyes as loudly as my heart might be beating right now. Now her smile is more caustic but it's as pleasant as ever. I try my best to will my heart out of my throat and I speak finally, hopefully not too soon so that my voice squeaks.

"I think we need to set our priorities," I whisper without even a whisper of a squeak. "We're unarmed on the outside and the inside so we need some other way to fight them."

"What we need first is a way to break out," she says matter-of-fact. "We do need to fight them, but we need to be _able_ to fight them first."

"I don't think we'll be able to fight them without any kind of weapon though," I say and now she takes her time to think. "Did you see our weapons?"

"Yeah, they have them, in fact they're carrying them," she says and offhandedly points one thumb through the bars.

I did not notice this myself before but once I look through the bars I plainly see our weapons. I see Cody's spear first of course and I'm not sure why I didn't see that one before. Perhaps I assumed it was their own weapon since spears are somewhat generic. Next I spot Joselyn's sword and then my crowbars, which disappointingly are not in the hands of an individual who can handle them. I bring my attention back to Joselyn once I'm sure of our weapons locations.

Not coming up with anything immediately she taps her big honking boots against the stone floor then reflexively reaches into her inside pocket before she realizes that she ran out of cigarettes not a minute ago.

"Special Skills," she snaps her fingers and declares, then her face and her arm fall. "But that's out of the question," she says morosely although I don't think I can agree with her, she goes on to say. "Cody siphons excess energy into his spear so he can't do it, and I need my spells so I don't have anything to mix. And you…" she pauses then, and just looks at me with one bright sad eye.

She furrows her brows and exhales a breath I hadn't noticed her take in. "You need blood," she whispers.

Joselyn does pose a good point. We cannot use the blood of anyone in this cage, we can only assume that my own blood will be no good, and I certainly wouldn't expect Cody or Joselyn herself to sacrifice for us. And sadly, our client is also forbidden for bloodletting. And of course nobody else has a working Special Skill here.

But the point remains that I do. If only I could get some blood from somebody outside of this cage…

I move to the bars and put my hands on them and try to ignore how much of the cold passes through the leather of my gloves. These bars are very thick, I can't quiet put my hands around them which means that they must be a few inches around. That is very disappointing, I'm not sure that a whiff of blood could give me the strength to bend these bars.

But in my experience with my own special skill the effect is accumulative. And when Quistis examined my tissue sample for me she made it sound like more blood particles would create more of an effect. Maybe I just need more than a whiff…

That would probably create even more of a physical change. But does that really matter right now? I don't think it does, we're in a very serious situation right now and so anything akin to vanity shouldn't be taken into too grand of consideration.

I need blood, that much is certain, and of course it needs to come from somebody outside of the cage. But who could we get to come close enough? And surely if we did manage to get someone close there would be another watching who could attack me and that would be the end of it. My target needs to be separate from the group, maybe I could inquire with somebody who's taking a piss in the other corner.

I look through the bars again to confirm that the group is still in discussion. Then I cast my eyes hopelessly across the ice to see not someone pissing, but staring at me, I see somebody who is still staring at me.

The girl Cissy still looks rather lifeless although she is standing on her feet. She never did heed her relative elders call; apparently she gave up and decided to let Cissy do as she pleased. The girl seems morbidly interested in me still.

I wonder: have I found our way out?

"Joselyn," I whisper just loud enough for the four of us in the tomb to hear. My leader looks to me and I approach her very closely, close enough to touch her nipples with my collar bone. "I think I found what we need"

She opens her eyes wide, "Really? There's nothing at stake or anything like that?" I think now that she was thinking along the same lines that I was concerning our ways out. That we would need to distract somebody while I took whatever amount of sample that I might need, but that would obviously have repercussions, one of us would be shot or worse.

But I'm pretty sure that I can do this without all of those troubles.

"Yeah, I've never liked kids anyway."

**The Mother Of Others Children**

…Meanwhile…

Edea Kramer did love to watch her beloved Cid play with the children. He was driving a large vehicle carrying a lot of hay in the back and throwing a Frisbee from it so the children would have a long way to run. Even in his old age he maintained his fun loving rascal persona around little ones. He could always entertain them well and have much fun with them himself and that only made the children love him more. Edea found that when people who were not as charismatic with children forced playfulness with them that the children would not be so interested. Cid was perfect; he was everything she had always wanted in a husband.

Well, perhaps she had not always wanted somebody like him for a lover. She had been young once after all, and when you are young your ideal lover is more of a dream lover than a realistic one. She had once wanted an intelligent brute that would read her poetry and make love to her for her pleasure, and back when she was young, there existed no such man.

In fact, back then there existed no such man like Cid either. The old men were bitter and could love only their sons and their fathers; middle aged men were more interested in glory or money than love, young men were interested more in sex than even money, and the youngest, the boys were being taught to be like their elders.

In fact that may have been what inspired her to take care of children. Children should not be taught to degrade people because of their gender, and only someone who understood that could teach them. Even when she was young she wanted children of her own, and she wanted away from civilization so she could begin an elaborate matriarchy.

Unfortunately she had been the only one of the women who thought that it could happen. It wasn't until hundreds of years later when Edea would play a key role in the liberation of women, for that was when her Hyne given powers had become powerful enough to make a difference and only then did she have allies who believed in hope as she always had.

Her proudest moment was when the declaration was made. It was when she finally knew that sorceress's like herself would not be the only women to be respected that she felt finished. Pleasantly finished though, not hopeless, the liberation of a people was not her only pleasure. Her other pleasure was hope.

Even after centuries of climbing through oppression, Edea realized she had never come to terms with her impossible man. In her brain she knew it was foolish to hope for a man with no flaws, but her heart and her loins swore against that. It wasn't until weeks after the oppression stopped that she completed understood her foolishness.

Predictably it had been the day she met Cid when she was sent on the track to realization, but, not to be predicted, it had been when he was a boy. Edea remembered the way he was even then. Edea had been close friends with his mother, a very aged woman who had played a large role in the liberation herself. Cid had one day declared that he would marry her someday. Of course back then Edea had laughed at him then, and thinking back to it she couldn't help but laugh the same way.

But now she was laughing at herself, pleasantly. She could laugh at herself about a lot of things. When a mortal reflects upon their life they often find they can laugh about their past, but Edea had so much more of a past than a normal human. She mused that if she dared to recall every little detail she would be in hysterics and Cid would be more concerned about her health than the time before Ultimecias possession of her.

It might have been thanks to Cid that she had developed this sense of humor. For even after hundreds of years of life she didn't think she had become a genuinely mature woman until they had married. Perhaps it had been sooner but she could not recall that, for she had gone through that fit of girly mirth knowing that she would be married. And to a man who had declared it at such a young age no less, that was the funniest part she thought.

It had taken hundreds of years for her to finally become a woman. To think, it had only happened because of a little boy.

Edea took a break from watching the children swarm the vehicles drivers' seat after throwing the Frisbee too far by tending to the dishes in the sink. Normally this would worry Edea but the children looked like such skilled climbers, they were like lemurs.

She picked up a particularly old plate that had not been rinsed those days ago after they'd had cornbread so the yellow matter was much like sandstone on the glass plate. She put a lot of soap on the wooden bristle brush and tried to scrub the stuff off under the hot water tap.

Just as she was about to give up and simply let the plate sit submerged in hot water for a few hours when the entire plate became yellow for a second. Or was it gold? Yes, gold, it was a flash and it only lasted for a second but it was certainly gold.

Thinking that the plate had reflected light from outside, she was about to look out the window when she heard the scream of somebody who she hadn't spoken with for a long time.

"AAAHHHH!"

Edea looked out the window just in time to see the body land in the hay. It sounded so absurd to her ears but she could swear that she saw so much black leather in that fall.

Edea threw the drying towel from her shoulder and ran outside. Cid had turned off the engine and was hanging out the door the vehicle and she could see three of the children in the passenger seat holding him by the legs to keep him from falling out.

Thinking that Cid would be no help for a moment -he would soon collect himself and round the truck to climb the ladder on the back- she rushed to the side of the vehicle she thought the person had fallen to and she hoped that his head had not struck the metal rim before she elevated herself.

"Float," she announced as if another person would need to hear her speak and she floated five feet in the air and looked down on Squall in the hay.

"Squall my child," she seemed to fly –and she was- into the hay with him and she placed one hand on his shoulders and she flipped him over. As she was putting her hand on his forehead and watching his pretty gray eyes open up to look at her Cid was climbing up the ladder.

"Squall?" Cid said astonished.

Squall sat up on his elbows and tried to rub the bridge of his nose with two fingers without falling over. He grunted, Edea thought he might be wiping something from his eyes. She wanted to ask him if something was wrong but then she thought of how Squall was, he would not want to tell them and she would have to respect that.

What on Gaia was he doing here? And what's more why on Gaia had he fallen from the sky? Should she be expecting any more children she had taken care of to land in the hayride as well?

"A hayride, that's what this thing is called!" she announced sounding very satisfied, not realizing she had forgotten about the strange situation.

_**EG**_

The first thing Squall did once he completely regained his brains equilibrium was start staring stupidly at his Matron. After meeting your twenty year dead mother, then being abruptly taken away from her and then falling from the sky and luckily, directly into a pile of hay, a proclamation of hayrides was not the first thing you'd expect to hear.

Squall would have expected for them to call his name loudly but then they might have done that without his noticing. He had not been able to hear anything other than his brain rattling for a while after all.

"Squall, are you ok?" asked Matron seemingly from above him.

"Uh," he began with more of a grunting sound than an actual word for he was still disoriented from his fall. "I think I'll be all right," he said with clarity that betrayed his appearance.

Squall sat up with difficulty and almost he felt Matrons hands on his back holding him up. He shook his head thinking for some reason that would straighten his brain in his skull but it didn't quite do that, so he sat still and evened his breathing instead and within a few minutes time he could see straight again.

Cid was still holding himself on the ladder on the back of whatever it was he had landed in. He squeezed the straw like material at his side and remembered what Matron had randomly declared after she was in the vehicle with him. 'A hayride!' she had said, he had landed in a hayride…

… Why on Gaia did the Kramer's have a hayride?

"When did you guys get a hayride?"

After his foster parents had a good laugh about that each of the climbed out of the hayride and invited Squall into the house to discuss what had just happened and most likely,

Matron would ask him how things at Garden were going. The children stayed behind and

moaned in disappointment once they realized that Cid had taken the keys to the hayride

with him.

As he approached the house and allowed the orphans to get underfoot around him and admire all the leather that he was wearing. Squall admired the orphanage. Truth be told the last time he saw it was shortly after the second sorceress war. The girls had insisted that they help rebuild it and Irvine naturally agreed with every word they said for sake of other interests. This left Squall and Zell outnumbered five to two –because Netta had been present as well.

Squall had much more work to do than the others still being the commander at the time so he never saw the final product but now he could see it in all of its quaint glory. The orphanage had the look of a cottage about it; the roof was of bright gray tiles and was now built shaped triangularly, the walls were smooth and white like a clean brick of salt, the windows were replaced and the frames were sturdy, and beneath every one of these windows there was a rectangular pot stuffed with colorful flowers.

The inside was repaired in the same fashion as the outside. Each floor was hardwood now, it was polished and where ever there was furniture –which was also plentiful now- there were rugs of varying sizes for the sake of keeping the floor in good condition. Most walls were smothered with pictures. Squall was surprised to not recognize many of them. Sure there were many of him and the others from his orphanage days but they were outnumbered easily.

To his surprise Squall recognized many of these pictures from history classes of the women's liberation movement that took place fifty or so years ago –he never really understood why a mercenary academy had history classes but he never questioned it either.

Squall was especially surprised to recognize Edea in many of them, and she seemed to have played quite a large part. After meeting Edea and being reminded that she was his Matron, Squall had never recognized her from those photos in the history books but noticing it now he was kind of embarrassed that it hadn't occurred to him sooner.

Had this meant that she was a famous name and Squall had never noticed?

"I had no idea that was you Matron," he said with an experiment in mind, stopping once they were in the kitchen which looked very nice now in the same way everything else did.

Edea turned around and looked clearly touched that he was still calling her Matron. She might have been worried that Matron was a title that the children would feel immature by saying at his age.

"What do you mean?" she asked obviously being modest.

Squall pointed to one of the pictures hanging on the wall near the cupboards. It was of Edea –who looked no younger than she did now- standing with three other women in front of a line of voting booths. One woman who Edea was shaking hands with Squall found rather creepy, for although she was feminine, she looked disturbingly like Cid.

"Oh yes," Edea said happily. "That was me. Would you like some tea Squall?" she said suddenly, Squall had to wonder how he had not thrown her into a proud soliloquy about her 'man defiance days' but decided that I might have been for the best. He would not want to interrupt her if she did begin that, and there were some things that he wanted to talk with them about.

Cid gestured for him to sit down and they sat across from one another. He wanted to speak with them both once they were all sitting so he decided some stalling was in order until Edea sat with them.

"Where did you get a hayride from anyway?"

"I had it imported from Galbadia about a year ago. The new crop of orphans said that they were very bored," said Cid offhandedly after they were already inside and drinking some tea that Matron had prepared. Squall could hear the children playing outside, and a select few -whose voices morbidly reminded him of Seifer and Selphie- were still complaining loudly that Cid had the keys to the hayride.

For a moment Squall wondered how this was possible but he was only being put off by the fact that they lived in a small area. Cid actually had an impressive sum of money from being B-Gardens Headmaster for such a long time. Once he reminded himself about that Squall understood that Cid wouldn't have financial trouble with getting a hayride to entertain the orphans they took care of.

Edea sat down with her own cup of tea next to Cid and briefly, they smiled at each other before bringing their individual attentions to Squall. And looking on his foster parents, side by side, taking in their appearances, an unusual and somehow uncomfortable thought passed into his brain.

_This is Rinoa and I in twenty years._

Mostly the thought occurred to him based on appearance. Squall was aware that when he was in his forties his body would be shaped differently and perhaps it would change in the fashion that Cid's had. But certain features that he and Cid shared like the brown hair and their similar complexion stood out now. And on top of that he had been prescribed glasses which he only wore when Rinoa made him.

Squall was also aware of the ever youthfulness of a sorceress. Edeas age had not caught up with her noticeably in the three years since her powers were extracted and inadvertently passed on to Rinoa. Rinoa herself shared features with Edea; the long black hair, the white skin, the valentine shaped faces. And Rinoa would not age noticeably, so when Squall reached Cid's age Rinoa would be in much the same condition as Edea was now.

He was somewhat comfortable thinking about this but he made himself forget. Edea would ask him what he was thinking very soon and he wanted to get something else on his mind, he needed something he would be comfortable admitting. He took a sip of his tea and braced himself for Edeas question.

"So Squall," said Cid. "What were you doing twenty feet above our hayride?" he sounded perplexed and concerned but the mirth in this question was unmistakable.

"I think that I was teleported," he said in between sips.

"How?" asked Edea who sounded as if she didn't find it so strange because she was only interested in how it happened.

Squall had not quite had time to give it thought since the element of time travel had been introduced. At first he wanted to think that it was simply a teleportation spell if such a thing really existed. But once his mother manifested before his very eyes that definelty blew the spell theory out of the water.

Raine… he needed to tell Cid and Edea about Raine and Laguna. But he didn't want to just jump into that subject, he wanted to say some other things first, particularly he wanted to tell them about his dreams.

"This has happened twice," he began, thinking that he should tell them the whole story instead of simply jumping to the part where he met his twenty year dead maternal unit. "I was trying to give a speech for the most recent graduates and then," he bit his lip and swigged the remainder of his tea; Edea immediately took the cup from his hand and refilled it with chamomile and honey. "Thanks, then I was surrounded by golden light and electricity and then I was nowhere."

Cid and Edea looked bewildered, they said nothing and so he continued.

"Then I saw Ellone," their faces softened a bit, he could tell that Edea was resisting the urge to ask him how Ellone was. "We were apparently in a dreamscape, she told me that she's been making me have dreams, then she woke me up," Squall decided he would leave out the part with the Chocobo manure.

"What has she made you dream?" asked Edea, perhaps she sensed his anxiety and had seen fit to change the subject temporarily.

"Um well, I actually had two other strange dreams that she didn't give me," he said offhandedly only so he could jump to that subject later. "But the ones she did give me, I'm kind of amazed that I didn't realize what was happening."

They smiled at the mention of Ellones power but still they said nothing so that he could speak freely without worry of very much interruption.

"The first one was Seifer walking from the D-District Prison to Winhil. Basically he just went into a bar, everybody recognized him, then red energy came out of his body and the place was leveled." Squall realized then that he had not checked the area of Winhil where the bar had been. He had wanted to confirm its existence but with the appearance of his parents he had apparently forgotten.

"Then she showed me that Seifer and Quistis used to be friends before they came here." Cid and Edea looked as if they nothing of the sort but neither did they look as confused as Squall had felt when dreaming that dream. "One day Seifers father brought Seifer to Quistis' house, then he killed Quistis' mother, then he drove out here…"

"And off of the cliff," Edea finished for him. "Luckily they jumped out before that happened"

"So that really happened?" Squall asked astonished.

"If that's what Ellone showed you then, yes, down to the last detail." Cid said certainly and he sipped his tea.

"What was the last dream she showed you Squall?" asked Edea expectantly.

"It showed me the day Savior lost his eye." Cid and Edea knew who Savior was. Despite the fact that neither of them played a major role in B-Garden anymore they liked to keep up with the times and the events. So needless to say they knew everything they were allowed to know about Savior.

"So Seifer wasn't in the last one at all?" asked Cid.

"No."

"Why do you think she's been showing you these things?" asked Edea.

"She wouldn't tell me," said Squall and he was clearly bothered by this. Although he sounded simply annoyed to Cid and Edea he was genuinely worried. If Ellone wasn't telling him something then that meant that something very serious was likely underway.

But then again Ellone was an unreadable person even to Squall, for all he knew she could be doing this to him just to pass the time. But what was more likely was that she thought he needed to see so that he might behave differently. People had been trying to do that to him all of his life.

Squall thought of the dreams that were simply absurd that Ellone couldn't have been showing him. The second one in particular came to mind and he remembered that he had wanted to ask Matron about it ever since he had it.

"Matron, can I ask you something?" he asked politely.

"Of course my child," she said sagely and gave him her penetrating, undivided attention. Almost at once Squall wished he hadn't asked her because now her expectance was rather overwhelming. It wasn't that he couldn't speak it was just that he couldn't bring himself to remember the details from the dream all of the sudden.

Thankfully it did not last terribly long and he managed to remember the details of concern just in time to speak through his opening mouth. "Like I said I was having strange dreams that I don't think that Ellone could have given me. And in one of them you're about to tell a story to the girls when their young. Then Seifer rushes in beaten and bloody being chased by a Geezard." Edea furrowed her brows looking astonished that Squall would dream up such a thing and three fingertips when to her lips, "then he picked up a metallic toy dump truck and he beat it to death," he finished lamely, finally feeling ridiculous for even mentioning this to Matron and now regretful because it sounded to stupid now that he finally put it to words.

"I don't recall anything like that happening," she said clearly and honestly and she finished her first cup of tea. She did not give any impression that she thought her foster son was insane.

They were quiet then and after Squall finished his second cup he realized what hearing about this must be like for them. Not his dreams, not even Ellone or his falling from his sky and into their hayride, but Seifer. Seifer had been a touchy subject even when he was around. Now that he was long gone, still wanted in certain parts of the world –namely Esthar- and actually documented as a menace from the Second Sorceress War he was much more of an issue, particularly to Cid and Edea.

Squall didn't know quite how Cid and Edea thought. But he did know that they thought like parents. From what Squall knew of parents –which he thought was scarce but that was really just bitterness- he thought that they blamed themselves for Seifers wrongdoings. But that didn't make any sense to him because he also knew that they were intelligent sensible people.

It was Squalls personnel and shared opinion that Seifer was a screw-up because that was what he was. He made his own mistakes because of his stupid decisions. And it couldn't have happened any other way because that was just how Seifer had always made his decisions. Always based on how much closer anything could get him to what he wanted.

Thinking of Seifer so much reminded Squall of the leveled area in Winhil that he had forgotten to locate and investigate, and with the talk of his dreams he thought of another thing that he wanted to see. If these dreams were from real events –and he did trust Ellone that they were- then he wanted tangible evidence. He needed it to seem real to him if that was what it was.

"Did you two…?" Squall had their attention but again he felt the need to stop, he needed a way to put this delicately. "Did you ever, clean up the mess from the day Quistis and Seifer first came here?"

Squall could tell they were perplexed for a moment but they quickly understood what he meant. Without turning their heads they eyed each other and conveyed a message with just the looks in their eyes. Squall could tell that they didn't look pleased but that they would ultimately give in and lead him to the crash site. And if Squall wasn't mistaken he thought he saw an unrelated look of annoyance on Cid's face. Perhaps he was irritated that he could not speak with Edea telepathically anymore.

"Very well," Edea said simply without making Squall finish his inquiry and they put their empty cups away and left the building together.

Squall had not yet taken his first step out of the front door before one of the children stopped Cid and Edea and had them kneeling at ground level for him.

"Where ya goin'?" asked the boy before his foster parents could ask him what he wanted.

"We're going to a place where you kids shouldn't be," said Edea. "You just stay around the house and play with the others, we'll be back pretty soon," said Cid who ruffled the boys hair un-welcomed. The child made a face which was clearly exaggerated and he straightened his hair out –if straightened was indeed the correct word, it looked like he had only mussed it up differently- and he fled to the other children on the other side of the orphanage.

Briefly Squall wondered if he had been anything like that when he was still living here. He wouldn't know since he didn't have all of his memories because of the GF's, but maybe the GF's weren't the only reason for that. Perhaps Squall just didn't think that those times weren't very memorable.

The walk to the cliff was a long one. But they managed to make productive conversation by Squall telling them what had transpired in the past few months. At first he began much earlier than that but they told him that since he hadn't thought of it Quistis had been filling them in for the past few years. They did not put it quite that way however, they let him know as politely as they could and Squall was grateful, it was embarrassing enough as it was.

Cid and Edeas moods changed instantly at one point after he had finished discussing with Cid the merits of coffee poured on the head. A gloomy demeanor to match Edeas admittedly gothic looking appearance came over them and so Squall silenced himself respectfully. Squall recognized this demeanor in Cid particularly but that was probably just because he had seen it on him many times before.

As long as the Gardens had been established a funeral ceremony was always necessary after field exams and some missions. Squall had never had to force this type of look since it had been on his face for most of his life but he had always wondered if it was a challenge for Cid. His foster father always struck him as a happy person, his speeches seemed like his heart went into them yet it seemed to go nowhere else. To be honest Cid was a rather moody person, he was very emotional in one way or another which was probably why Edea was such a wonderful wife for him.

Here was Squall wondering if Cid was forcing his quietness when he and Edea stopped. Squall looked in front of him self but didn't stop until he noticed that they had reached the cliff. He stopped abruptly then and nearly fell on his ass, he felt a bit resentful to his foster parents for not telling him to stop but he decided that he could simply forgive them for it later.

"Just look down the cliff, I'll make you float if you fall," Edea assured him then stepped back away from the cliff, more because she wouldn't be tempted to look at the wreckage then for worry of falling off of the cliff.

Squall kneeled near the cliffs edge, put his hands on the ground and crawled very slowly until he could clearly look down the water and jagged rocks below. He was immediately reminded of the dream that Ellone had given him and two of his companions three years ago, where Laguna with Kiros and Ward had fought off Estharian troops and were forced to leap from a cliff to escape in conveniently placed rowboats.

The cliff did not drop nearly as far as Squall had expected. It was perhaps sixty feet down to the white bubbles and rock daggers. Amongst those bubbles and daggers was an ancient looking pickup truck or rather what was left of it. The vehicle stood with its hind end in the air which must have meant that the front end was crushed so as to make it a balancing base.

Squall was not quite happy with his view of the truck but he could make out some details. It was smothered with rust the same way chocolate smothered a candy bar. It was riddled with many holes of many shapes and sizes, although most of the shapes were circular, and most of the sizes were probably no bigger than a penny.

"Matron, do you think you could cast Float on me anyway? I want a closer look." Squall did not look back to Edea but he was sure she was making a face, he was also sure that Cid was nodding to her right about now for he was elevated shortly after asking for her favor. "Thanks," he said quickly and after a moments worth of hesitation and a very deep breath he flung himself over the cliffs edge.

The fall was something he was familiar with at this point in his mercenary career. Although he had not seen actual action for too long it felt completely natural to push himself off of the cliff once he was sure the float spell had taken its effect, in fact he felt a mix of thrill and relief once he was feeling the wind against his face.

Since a float spell will only work at eleven inches above the ground and anything that may be on or protruding from the ground the fall was swift. But as fast as he was going Squall felt no trouble, no worry, he watched the jagged rocks threatening him as he fell the way a fast death trap might.

Just as he might have worried for his life in his final moments Squall made an abrupt stop in mid air with his nose nearly a foot away from rock so sharp it looked it had literally been ground into an edge. He slowly wavered and fell to one side of it as if he were a bubble sliding down a spire. He continued to float in the same direction but he made no move to push at the rocks at his side when he passed them, for the spell was moving him directly to what he wanted to see.

Squall would likely never quite decide what had possessed him to investigate this truck so fervently. He would probably never decide why he wanted to look inside for any sign of… anything really. But he wanted to see, and with all of the crap he'd had put up with for 'who knew how long' he thought was entitled to indulge his curiosities.

With this in mind Squall pushed himself off from a large watery rock he found himself next to in order to hasten his little journey to Seifers father's death truck. Once he was just outside of the truck Squall stopped himself. He looked up to the cliffs edge and he was happy to see Cid and Edea looking down on them. He couldn't tell from this distance but he thought they were smiling reassuringly for him.

Or maybe they were frowning at him for reminding them of a particularly dreary part of their fostering career…

Without that in mind Squall braced himself for whatever he might see inside the truck and peered through the shattered rear window. What he saw was an incomprehensible tangle of metal sprinkled with equal parts of plastic and glass. He was sure that even Raijin and or Zell could have been able to tell him what went where with this wreck as it was.

He was right when he guessed what position the truck was in. The tangle of metal that was the nose of the truck was literally inside –or entangled somehow- with the jagged rocks a few inches above the water although it was wet from water lapping up with the forces of the ripples and large waves. It was in fact sticking up ass end to the skies, the wheels had not yet fallen off because of the rust but they were threatening too.

But Squall could not see what he had come to see. He had not admitted it to himself aloud or in his mind but Squall wanted to see the body. Or rather what was left to speak of that might be called a body. There was no good reason for him to look he thought, but then again there was no good reason for him to have come down there at all and yet there he was.

Ellone had shown him that dream for a reason. And although this probably wasn't it he needed to do something about it or he'd be thinking about it forever. He grabbed one wheel on the truck, he waited to see if it would fall off and when it didn't he pushed himself to the other side of the truck so he might be able to see to the drivers side.

Squall thought of the mad look in Mr. Almasy's eyes when he was driving near the edge of the cliff. He thought of how he was reminded of a dragon when he watched. For some reason this made him think of how like a dragon Seifer might be, but it was a quick thought, and later he might not remember ever even thinking it.

Once he was on the other side of the truck and had a firm hold of the other tire –which proved as stable as the opposite one- he took a look to the driver's side of the vehicle. What Squall saw was no real surprise but even after spending quite a lot of his life as a mercenary he didn't quite like looking at person's remains.

There was little left of Mr. Almasy to speak of and even less of that was visible. His body seemed to have been simultaneously trapped and crushed by the impact. The front half the truck resembling a soda can as it did covered the lower half of the mans body, but the upper half was quite visible and it was a wonder that it had not met the rocks beneath the waves.

The bones from his upper body were stuck in the shattered wind shield. He was in the space between the steering wheel and the broken wind shield and looked as inclined as a turtle might to slip into the waters. The bones did not look like they were attached but in a pile, and any shred of flesh or clothing that might was once on him had clearly dissolved and floated away through the cracks in the glass.

Squall turned away from the sight and leaned his head against the wheel. Still Squall thought of why he was doing this but he couldn't decide. Clearly he was dead; he knew that once Ellone told him that she was showing him visions again, Ellone had never shown them something that hadn't happened. But what was the importance? It couldn't just be morbid curiosity could it?

Squall gave up again after a while of thought then he was struck with an embarrassing question. How the hell was he going to get back up?

**The Demon On The Outside**

At first Joselyn didn't know what Grave was up to. He had just said that he didn't like kids anyway but what did he mean? She knew perfectly well that he didn't like children. He had mentioned it many times, in fact she thought, he often preferred to mention it at the times when she would care the least. Most often it was at a time when she thought she might move their relationship to a more romantic level, but then he'd say something about razor wire and immediately she would be turned off. Why was he bringing this up now?

Grave wiped the part of his sleeve that he wiped her face with on his pants and went back to his spot across from her beside the bars. He flinched when he sat back down in that spot, it had no doubt become cold again after he stood up, as if it had become warm under his flat butt to begin with.

That's not quite true she thought offhandedly, his butt wasn't quite flat…

Joselyn was taken from her reverie concerning the curve of Graves butt when he saw his hand sticking gingerly through the bars and beckoning. Joselyn looked across the ice lake and saw the young girl, no doubt no older than six who still stood with her big brown eyes transfixed on Grave.

Joselyn might have felt a certain amount of jealous annoyance if the girl was about ten years older… and dressed like their client. But at her age Joselyn couldn't quite decide what Grave was getting at. Just a moment ago he sounded concerned about their situation, but now he was beckoning the six year old girl across the lake.

It hit her just as the girl began to make her way to the bars. She was dragging her large teddy bear across the ice looking so unconcerned with it that she might drop it; its face was dragging against the ice and collecting flakes of snow, it would look like a white scab over the bear's eye.

Grave, like a mechanism did not cease his beckoning until the girl was but two inches from him. Face to face she stood at her full height while he sat sideways against the wall. Once the girl stopped Grave began whispering, and it was all Joselyn could do to keep herself from breathing quietly enough to hear them properly.

"I want you to be very quiet," Grave said and at once Joselyn was reminded of the little girl back at B-Garden, the one that the other teenager was speaking to about Grave, for it was now the same voice coming from his throat as the one he had used then.

The little girl made a sound that might have been 'okay' Joselyn assumed it was because Grave smiled at the girl then and touched her cheek with one latexed finger. She looked thrilled to be touched by something that might have been warm in this cold area and she smiled back at him.

Graves way with women was decidedly most unusual thought Joselyn.

"Is it all right if I check something?" Grave asked, falsely polite, reptilian.

Perhaps just for the sake of further amazement the girl nodded and continued to make no movement. With his own secret plan and precautions Grave set his hands on either side of the passage between bars that he was looking at the girl through and slid his hands through the bars. Joselyn couldn't quite see what he was checking but from how he looked when his hands easily slid to either side of the girls head she thought he might be checking to see if the girls head would fit through the bars.

Joselyn had lost her voice, and she thought that it was because she was hiding it from herself. She realized now that Graves plan –she was sure she knew what it was- was most likely their only way out. They could wait longer for Savior, but they had no idea where he was or if he could even take all of their enemies on his own.

Joselyn realized this was the only way they were armed. If Grave didn't do this they would be waiting in the cold for their bodyguard to arrive and perhaps for death to arrive sooner. They were essentially helpless in here…

… _But she's only a little girl_ another part of her wailed…

_Precisely,_ another part of her said, a part of her that must have been influenced by Grave for it sounded much like him, _she's __**only**__ a little girl,_ and then the voice cackled the noise of cracking wood.

The thought that children were unimportant to Grave bothered her only for a moment before she remembered that it was true. Then, for some morbid reason, it wasn't so uncomfortable.

It was all so sudden that before she could even move she felt guilty for doing nothing.

"Hey! Cissy get away from him!" shouted the one who was the girls elder and without even addressing Grave she drew a revolver from within her jacket and fired.

Joselyn's heart made a deadly feeling tremor the same moment the bullet connected with one iron bar very close to Grave, Graves hands grasped the girl Cissy by her head and pulled that much of her inside the tomb with him. In the momentary commotion Joselyn didn't notice it, but she would have felt another tremor in her heart had she seen the menacing look along Graves lips.

He looked so expectant of satisfaction.

The WeeD had plenty of time to fire again but she did not seize her much needed opportunity. Grave raised the girl by her head alone much the way someone would examine fruit in the supermarket, he opened his jaw, licked his teeth…

… And her bit hard into the soft meat of her throat…

Blood spilt from the girl's throat and down Graves neck and under his jacket, a sound as loud as her gunshot came from the WeeD with the revolver but it was from her mouth. The WeeDs, to Joselyn, looked too stupidly appalled to attack at once. Grave spat a mouthful of flesh onto the frozen stone floor and brought his mouth back to Cissy's throat, ignoring the blood when it continued to spill on his left cheek.

Cissy never made a scream, at first it was the sound of obstruction and then she faintly sounded of a dog wheezing. It was a kind of despair that might have been held in until death because it couldn't be properly conveyed, or perhaps it was leaking out of her. Her kicking stopped in a manner to suggest the latter.

Grave swallowed two great mouthfuls of blood before two more gunshots made him drop the body and scurry back. Absently Joselyn thought she would be ashamed if she had missed a stationary target that many times in a row but that thought was too unimportant for her to dwell on.

At once Cissy's elder was in front of the bars. Her body –her arms in particular, the one holding the firearm in particular- was shaking so violently there might have been a Whelps engine under her skin. Her eyes had probably been teary just because of the cold before but now the salt of her tears had scratched her cheeks startlingly red.

"You…" she began like she wanted some climactic tragic speech to come to her like the anger had. So for lack of words she raised her shaky weapon and pulled back on the hammer.

And then she dropped her weapon.

Every bit of the change happened in seconds; Graves Cheshire grin stretched across his mouth instantly, at the precise same time his eyes bulged like their sockets to the size of mid sized lemons. The makeup shredded and fell away. Then, black lines in multiple rivulets spread from Grave's head, what looked like black veins spread across his face in a grotesque-Celtic-knot pattern but this time it did not stop on his face. The black veins seemed to disappear across his forehead into his scalp and down his neck where it might have made quick work of covering his torso and arms.

Grave unzipped his jacket and struggled to take it off, it was almost as if he were getting too hot but that had to be impossible in this weather. Underneath the red streak was thick on his white shirt, unexpectedly he grasped the bloody part and tore that off as well, and then they saw that the black pattern had in fact not stopped at his face.

Grave inhaled, and then exhaled a great amount of steam and spots of blood. His whole chin, throat, and chest were striped deep, child's blood red, but it was interrupted by the cold and made into beads frozen against his skin.

Once everybody thought that it was over, once the WeeDs collected themselves again and raised their arms to finally begin the fight Grave fell to his knees and made the most incomprehensible sound. It was a sound that did not come from his mouth but his body, but it was not a sound one would expect coming from anything.

Just under the belt line of Graves pants a white nub broke through the denim. At once he jutted out linger and thicker until it was as big around his fists that banged against the stone and cracked it like his dry lips. The tail came from his spine like a worm surfacing from the soil, and once it reached its full length behind him, longer than he was tall, black veins trailed across the tail and criss crossed just like the pattern on his face and torso.

Once again Grave began to breath noticeably, but these were short rapid breaths, he no longer sounded collected and in control. The WeeD who dropped her gun dropped to her knees and fumbled for the weapon. Grave shot up and gripped the bars at once and was just as quickly knocked back by the blast of the revolver.

There were sharp intakes of breathe from inside the cage and as if synchronized exhales of relief from outside of it. Joselyn didn't dare scream; even if her death could only be prolonged by a few moments then she wanted those moments.

At once it felt like there was something warm and wet inside her stomach that she hadn't noticed, that she had been taking for granted, shriveling and swirling and freezing and trying to squirm its way out of her intestines.

And just as quickly they saw that Grave, despite the bullet in his chest was still breathing, now controlled shallow breaths, the unidentified presumably imaginary creature in her stomach had a new breath of life and seemed to peer through her belly button to watch with her.

If anyone dared or cared to examine the wound they would see that the bullet did not penetrate Graves chest per se, but a black vein between his skin and bone. The black matter gripped the bullet like a hand, it unfurled twisted fingers sending gnarled bits of blackness opened and shards of metal scattered over Grave's chest.

Grave used his tail as if he had always had it to push himself back on his feet. He seemed not to notice the shards fall off of him nor did he seem to notice his friends cower. Joselyn stole a glance of Cody and Cornucopia and she wasn't surprised to see them horrified; Cornucopia looking frightened that she had hired such a thing –Joselyn was sure she was thinking thing and not person- and Cody, who probably wasn't sure that he was looking at his best friend anymore.

Joselyn did not wonder if she looked just like them.

Looking temporarily uninterested in the WeeDs, he touched his fingertips to his face, he ran them across his teeth, and then he pulled the strips of false flesh off of his face and dropped them the way he had dropped his shirt.

Desperately the WeeD fired into Graves chest a few more times but found that the black veins were hard to miss. Metal scattered before Graves feet and as he watched this, as he put his fingers to the insignificant wounds which had only broken the skin, he licked his teeth swished his tail… and he purred the way a hungry Manticora might.

Like lightning shattering the soil Grave leapt to the iron bars, pulled them apart and jumped past his enemies and landed tail first onto the frozen lake. Without considering their helpless prisoners -perhaps deciding that they would be dealt with when the real threat was gone- the WeeDs spread out around Grave and began rushing him by as many as three at a time.

The man holding his crowbars came at him from the front, while the man holding Cody's still whole spear came at him from the back. The man with the spear came within reach first predictably, and once the spear was thrust to him Graves tail wrapped around the weapon and cast from the mans hand before he even let go. The force of the throw had the man tripping behind Grave, and before he got up Grave wrapped his tail around his enemy's chest and held him above the ice.

Anyone could have predicted that the WeeD carrying Graves weapons would not be able to use them as weapons. When he swung both crowbars downward onto Grave and directly into his hands, the leather strips not even looped over the WeeDs wrists, even his colleagues knew that something would happen to him. They had no time, and so they did nothing to help him.

Grave simply pulled the crowbars out of the WeeDs grasp, spun them so that the sharpened hooks were faced outward as they were when he brandished them, and he struck the sides of the WeeDs knees.

Grave didn't seem to notice the WeeDs scream when he fell to his disjointed knees and called out what might have been somebody's name. Grave instead focused on the highest portion of the WeeDs chest, and he acted before any of his companions dared help him.

"None of you seem to be junctioned," said Grave in a voice that did not sound entirely his own, like he was speaking simultaneously with another voice dwelling inside his chest "Why?" after he said this he placed one bloody crowbar under the WeeDs chin to draw the answer out of him. He was lucky that the WeeD had heard him over the pain.

The WeeD did not answer at once so Grave dug the sharp points into his jaw for blood until he spoke. "They left," he barked and Grave allowed the man to lower his head. "Our GF's left our bodies after we betrayed Garden, we think that they went back eventually," he whimpered and tried to fall over so as to relieve the pressure on the opened area of his knees but Grave held him in place with his crowbars.

Grave nodded then brought the crowbar to his tongue which had changed only in its length. Like his tail it curled around the metal and wiped away as much blood as it could with one lick…

And as if he changed his mind instantly he hefted his weapons above his head then plunged them into the WeeDs chest just behind his collarbone. Just like Cissy he gave a strangled gasp and never managed another real scream. For once Grave had his weapons inside his enemy he twisted them and punctured the lungs and twisted them like a sponge wrung out.

Once Grave decided that he had a strong hold on the flesh inside his enemy Grave tore his weapons ceremoniously back into the cold air. The lungs were encrusted by the cold instantly and when Grave flung the meat onto the lake a sound of cracking, ice crusted body fluid could be heard distinctly.

With the lower half of his legs held to his knees only by skin and cloth the body of the WeeD fell backwards looking awkward and still not quite dead. The WeeD in Graves tail was held in just the right position to witness it happen and he was now screaming unlike he had before apprehension. Grave raised the still struggling body of the other WeeD wrapped in his tail above his head and squeezed until he was quiet. He did not release his hold. He stepped on the body as it died and took care to watch the gouts of blood pour from the collar bone wounds like juice squeezed from a bag.

Apparently deciding that he wasn't patient enough to wait for each enemy Grave leapt from the body to the nearest WeeD and began what would become the most reckless violence he would enjoy for a long time.

As Grave tore limbs and throats and stomachs, the WeeDs seemed to have forgotten about their remaining prisoners. Joselyn watched transfixed at the sight before her. She was reminded only of the day that she and Grave had made their demonstration videos. As she watched Grave now she couldn't summon up a memory of Grave when he was laughing, or reading, or staring at her tits when he thought she wasn't looking.

Now all she saw was the namesake for her latest nickname. But she wasn't very frightened of him, for she thought that if he was nothing more than a rampaging destroyer then he would have stayed in the cage until she Cody and Cornucopia were gone as well. Joselyn believed firmly that Grave was still on their side in this condition.

Joselyn took notice that the only WeeD that had not circled Grave was the elder of Cissy. Her gun not yet reloaded –Joselyn, having considered the experience of her enemy, wasn't sure if she even had spare ammunition- she just sat by the iron bars and watched as her comrades fell one at a time.

After the fourth enemy was firmly splattered and stuck against the wall by the entrance like al dente thrown against the fridge, Joselyn saw with great relief her weapon skidding towards the bars. Hope had her then but out of the corner of her eye she saw the WeeD woman was not entirely hypnotized by the massacre. She struggled to her feet without even looking in to the bars to Joselyn and so Joselyn leapt through the bars and grasped the woman's legs.

Out of her arrogance Joselyn underestimated the woman and so she was surprised when she received the kick to her throat. Joselyn stumbled backwards but did not slip on the ice, but skidded and even after she was stationary she was unsure of whether she would stay still or not.

She opened her eyes before she had completely regained her equilibrium. The WeeD had her weapon in her hands now –just as the woman stood up Joselyn thought she could hear the sound of a sword unsheathed- and after that sound another just like it came when her own sword was drawn. Joselyn couldn't help but criticize her enemy when she took her sword from its scabbard, it didn't look like a safe way to remove a blade.

When the woman charged at her –amazingly failing to slip- another sound was heard on the ice, something coming from the area where Graves massacre had begun –it had shifted minutes ago to the far right of the entrance- a sound of something sliding on the ice.

Sure of what was happening Joselyn dared to look away from her oncoming enemy and to the source of the sound. And there was Savior, sliding on his shoulder alarmingly fast towards neither her nor her enemy, more he was sliding between them. With leg movement that Joselyn herself was impressed by Savior elevated both of his legs then flipped onto them and commenced sliding on his boots.

At first the WeeD looked excited that Joselyn was looking the other way but then she realized that she was not looking away for sake of fear. Just in time she saw Savior to block his slash, she blocked, but the force from Saviors sliding pushed her against the stone of the tomb and she was stuck under Saviors weapon.

That's twice now thought Joselyn; she hoped that he would not expect anything in return at this rate. She was sure that she would never have a moment's free time.

Joselyn ran to her pinned enemy and kicked her squarely in the kidney. Savior slid back so as to give Joselyn her room but held his weapon on the ready. Joselyn dived for her weapon and brandished it at once when she was on her feet again, and once it was made clear that she and her body guard were in control she took the time to take her scabbard from the ground and re-attach it one handed to her belt.

"How long have you been here?" she asked as if it were something that she needed to know at once for official reasons.

"Ever since you and the others were thrown in the cage," he replied simply, and for the first time Joselyn found herself aggravated that she couldn't detect his tone of voice through his mouth piece.

"Wait a second," she said unable to keep the surliness from her voice. "Did you follow them here?" she looked out of the corner of her eye to Savior and she could distinctly feel another thing slithering in her but now it was a fiery thing.

"I watched your apprehension and followed the enemy until they stopped here, I've been waiting in the hole in the wall in the hall behind us," he must have known that she was going to be pissy because he inclined his head towards her so that he was watching her with the goggle that protected only a socket. "I think it's wise to give the new kids experience in being apprehended, it's bound to happen on your first mission anyway" and he inclined his head back to their enemy.

Deciding to give him further thought later Joselyn tried to ignore the sound of Graves official sixth kill that, judging by the sound of wheezing, splitting, must have been the man in his tail…

… Hyne that tail was scaring her to death…

… Joselyn shook her head and brought her mind back to important matters. The mourning WeeD, who notably was only a few inches from Cissy's body, but Joselyn decided that this was not quite the time to feel sorry for the enemy.

"Cody get your spear and," she called out but then she paused, the first thing that occurred to her to say was, 'help Grave' but that was just plain stupid, "just get your spear, Guard Ostentat," she noticed Cody's movements and with a certain amount of friends pride she noticed that he was not shaking.

She almost wanted to let herself shiver right now, as if she could shake the cold and the alarm from her body. She shook her head again, she was supposed to be paying attention to her enemy and she just kept losing her attention span for some reason.

"You, what…" but she was broken off when she saw what she was doing.

It must have been Saviors inexperience with Guardian Forces because he was fixated on the girl, but someone working at B-Garden would have to be familiar with the process of summoning, and what it looked like when somebody was doing it.

Joselyn felt like kicking herself when the green orbs spun around the concentrating girl, even she was distracted by noticing that the orbs seemed intangible for they were passing through the stone and iron bars as if they weren't there. And she was rather confused when the girl did not vanish but rather than assuming that she needed to attack now, she ran from the girl as fast as she could.

She slid, and toppled, and luckily she arranged herself to slam feet first against the wall rather tan crack her skull open. Once she was stopped –and once she had confirmed that Savior was hopefully safe on the other side of the lake- she looked to the sky. Grave and her other enemies were no longer on the lake, it seemed that they decided to take their chances in the maze and Grave had followed them, the bodies on the ice told her that there were three left not including the one in his tail.

In the sky a cluster of small clouds collected, they swirled together as if in an enormous invisible blender then slowed down to resemble a pin wheel. As they slowed down vibrant colors seen only at powerful sunset filled each individual cloud and filled them like milk poured in coffee. As if for the sole purpose to surprise the clouds jerked in that motion changed to the unmistakable shape and solidity of an enormous bird, despite looking like nothing more than splattered watercolors before the sudden movement.

Once properly manifested the Guardian Force Palidor dove like a beautiful bullet into the lake, at first Joselyn thought that he would spear her or one of her comrades with it's spear like beak but once it was to the lake it clutched the WeeD in it's talons then, apparently ignoring the rules of physics _and_ tangibility sped into the corridors without so much as slowing down.

Once the wind from the descent and abrupt change of trajectory from the giant bird subsided, Joselyn raised her head and ran over the lake to confirm the health of her allies and client. Savior was running from his side of the lake the way she was, Cody was stepping outside of the cage apparently after hiding in it after the WeeD summoned Palidor, and Cornucopia was still huddled in the corner, she was hiding her face.

"I'm going in there," Joselyn announced once she and Savior had stopped in front of the bars. "I'm going to find the guy with our Spells and GF's and hope that he isn't dead yet then I'll come back here all right?"

"Why does it matter if their dead?" asked Cody.

"'Cause the GF's will just leave if we don't draw them back. And I think that despite Grave's obvious advantage we should get our arsenal back," she added unnecessarily but Cody nodded instead of bothering her.

"You stay here," she told Savior, and while she did she couldn't help but feel like the cub ordering the lion, but she managed to sound in charge despite that. "You're not allowed to harbor GF's so I need to go in and get them all assuming Grave hasn't taken them," and even as she said these words she doubted that.

"We'll be all right," said Cody reassuringly and he patted her shoulder. Joselyn smiled at him as inappropriate as it seemed because they were in the middle of danger, then she only gave Savior a look then she ran carefully to the entrance, and into the maze she went.

**She Is Risen**

Palidors power was not something that Madeline had the time to get used to. The Guardian Force was new to her in fact, at least in the way of summoning it herself. She had seen her allies use it once upon a time and although they were much more familiar with him, they decided to trust her with him.

It had been more of a practical precaution then a wise decision. Being new to her she didn't know how to command the GF properly which was why she was still flying through the corridors in its talons. They had given Palidor to her because of how her enhanced speed, Madeline being a bad dodge would have less trouble if she could move faster. It was a practical decision; they never expected to be opposed to an enemy who was genuinely a threat to them.

She screamed for Palidor to set her down but he refused he just kept flying through the corridors at impossible speed without so much as grazing his feathers against the stone walls. What was more amazing was that he had not encountered any of her allies or that boy who had become an insane monster.

"_Let go!"_she demanded once more and finally Palidor let go of her waist and she rolled and bounced hard on the stone floor. Palidor kept moving and vanished instantly down another corridor, presumably to become the clouds again and find his way back to the sky.

Madeline stood up on shaking legs and brushed the frost and snow from her clothes. Her hands came across scrapes and scratches that had made their way through her uniform; she pawed the slashed Balamb symbol on her arm and was relieved in some part of her that it was in no other way scarred.

As soon as she stood up she collapsed onto the ground, she did not notice the cold on her knees or the open muscle on her legs and fingers pressed against the rough stone floor. Cissy's undamaged body seemed to obscure her vision as if it were a tangible thing stuck against her eyes, something that would not wash away from her tears or collapse under salt saturation.

Madeline blamed herself instantly. She had planned to leave Cissy in the apartment all by herself earlier that day. But Cissy had whined and cried until she would take her with her on the mission. Madeline knew that Cissy had no desire to be a mercenary or be involved with them at all, it was not excitement or even that some of Madeline's friends would be there. It was loneliness; Cissy didn't want to be left alone in that apartment even for a few hours.

Madeline giggled mirthlessly at the memory from that afternoon. She told her over and over again that she would be safe in the apartment even though she was alone. Without any decent argument of her own Cissy had screamed "What if I don't want to be safe?" Madeline understood and let her come with her in the end, and now she regretted it more than she did that afternoon.

To Cissy, being without Madeline and safety were anathema. Madeline was told that she had cried for the first two weeks of school when Madeline would drop her off. And even after she got used to it she scarcely spoke when she didn't' need to, and she had very few friends. A few of those friends had moved.

And now, because Madeline had failed to make her little sister understand that she wouldn't be safe on the mission, she didn't have her anymore.

It was all because she couldn't be more authoritative with her sister, because her sister was too preoccupied staring at the enemy like it was one of their normal visits to the zoo…

… A large tear fell to the floor in between Madeline's feet at that memory of the zoo…

… And it was because one of their enemies was hungry, she thought bitterly, because he was a _FREAK!_

Because he was an animal and such a fucking pretty boy that he had the attention of girls who weren't even pubescent yet. But he certainly wasn't pretty now, not now that he had her sister's blood on his chest and in his belly, now that his face had contorted hideously, and the black vein things and that tail.

Hyne the tail might have been the worst part, although she was only thinking that because one of her close friends was currently being constricted and split in two by it.

At that thought of Marx Madeline stomped her foot as hard as she could on the floor, imagining her leg sending a wave of her frustration into the ground for sake of some destruction. And some destruction she got, the square of concrete cracked as if it had been struck by something that was actually heavy and she scurried back ass first to safety.

The sound of crumbling and further breaking told her that the floor panel led to a basement, or perhaps just a storage room. The Tomb of the Unknown King could have served purposes other than burial, now that she thought of it she had heard of traps being set in certain places, but she never did confirm that.

She waited for a moment and watched the panel in anticipation, but it never completely collapsed. Thinking that she might have an advantage over any enemy that might find her she stayed put, only moving to check the other path and seeing nothing.

It probably wasn't a wise idea to wait for the enemy but she also thought that finding the way out wouldn't be wise. Palidor had taken his sweet time relocating her so she didn't know exactly where she was in the tomb. All she knew was that she was in one of the bends which meant she was on the outline of the maze. That wasn't particularly helpful.

Minutes ticked by without as much as one enemy. She didn't think it would be remotely safe for her to set off on her own from here; she had at least four enemies which had no doubt not decreased in number. And she had probably less than three allies at this point, if not for the ounce and a half of piss and vinegar in her veins she would have wanted to curl up and cry right there.

So instead she brooded.

That little bitch Ostentat had lied to them. She told them that they would not be dealing with a threat like that guy who literally morphed before them. "You won't even need to arm yourselves with Magic or Guardian Forces of your own," she said to them. They were told that they would only need to capture them after picking her up, and then draw their magic and Guardian Forces, their leader Gren had taken the liberty of taking the whole load. Madeline would have questioned this but Gren was not fond of being questioned, and because of that it was a wonder he hadn't died first.

Remembering her days in Garden, she came to the conclusion that Ostentat had set them up, if they were still doing the Demonstration Videos thing. Whether that morphing was a Special Skill or not it would no doubt need to be documented for presentation. Ostentat had hand picked those SeeDs, she told them so herself.

What did she have to gain from this, and why did Madeline care so much?

Her attention was brought back to the outside world by the sound of heavy panting and large footsteps. The pattern of breathing, the baritone level of sound in the voice, and the size the shoes would need to be to make that sound told her that it could only be Gren.

He rounded the corner and fell against his end of the wall to her left. He was facing her but he obviously did not see her, if not because he was looking at the floor… it wasn't. His eyes didn't look like his eyes anymore. They were smeared with, and were dripping with dark coagulated blood. That animal of a man had destroyed Grens eyes.

She wanted to call out to him and she nearly did, but the familiar sound of two voices and a swishing tail made her silent. It also made her paralyzed, her brain screamed at her to scramble away around the corner, but she couldn't, her heart seemed to have gained fifty pounds since she had settled behind the collapsing floor panel.

Madeline watched the beast round the corner and cackles the sound of breaking wood and popping coals simultaneously, like he had two voices. He was dragging his crowbars on either wall the same way a child held a stick against a picket fence. The scraping sound kept skipping when the weapons passed from stone to stone.

Gren didn't seem to hear the monster as he stalked behind him, it wasn't until she saw another glob of blood drop, this time from his ear, and did she understand what was wrong. How was the monster inflicting these kinds of injuries? Was it even possible to induce that kind of bleeding with a blow to the head, presuming that was what had happened to Gren?

The monster knelt behind Gren and looped one arm around his neck, he pulled Gren roughly towards him and said quite audibly-

"Draw."

Gren drew back as if pulled from the inside by a string and nearly heaved when all of their apprehended magic and Guardian Forces were drawn into the monster. The monster let go of his neck and Gren limped down like a rag doll but was stopped when the monster grabbed his hair. He didn't even flinch, and if not for the unsteady breathing she could see through his jacket she would have thought him dead already.

Just as Madeline was thinking that Gren was not quite dead the monster grabbed him by the hair for the last time and smashed his head against the wall. Blood and bone splattered mostly in the wall but bits of it landed on the demons face, most of them landed on his teeth where they would most likely go ignored.

Madeline could not keep herself quiet anymore. She was breathing heavily and involuntarily whining as she exhaled. She tried to stop herself but it was like there was something alien inside her forcing the air out of her lungs prematurely to force to take breaths frequently. An absurd part of her began to consider her lungs like fleshy whoopy cushions for all the noise she was making with her panic.

When the monster let go of Grens head it did not slide to the floor at once. It seemed to be stuck against the wall with gore and did not slip for a while, as if it were a hot wad of sugar thrown against the wall.

The monster stood and started towards her as if he knew she was there the whole time and was only planning her as a second course. As he was starting towards her Madeline wondered if he –or rather** '**it' by her thinking- was going to bite her and the others. Was he a cannibal –assuming he was human of course; he certainly didn't look it- or was his condition transmitted like a disease?

It wouldn't matter in the end really, she could never fight this enemy physically, and her presumably fallen comrades had not had any magic to give her with Palidor. As for Palidor, she would not have time to summon a Guardian Force that she had only junctioned with for the first time that day… She didn't have any hope now, except that there really was a Hyne and a sanctuary in the clouds, and that she'd be worthy enough to be with Cissy there…

As he neared the panel between them the monster elevated its tail to show that he still had Marx wrapped in it. He was clearly dead now, if not because of his limpness then because of the wide trail of blood the monster left behind him like a slug trailing slime. The tail must have eroded his waist to the bone judging by the way his was limping by the tail, like two candles bound by the same wick.

The monster paused, breathing steam and blood with its few but deep breaths through those long numerous teeth. It elevated its tail further so that Marx was high above its head. The tail flexed strongly and there was a resounding crack that reverberated through the halls for a few moments. Marx fell apart on either side of the monster and Madeline was grateful that his dead stare was fixated down the other side of the hallway. She didn't think that she could rightfully face her allies alive or dead as things were.

The tail unrolled and writhed and flexed behind the monster as if working out a cramp. It continued to fluidly jerk if only slightly, like a cat's tail swished from side to side before the felines pounced. It stepped on to the cracked panel and seemed to assume the sound of cracking stone was only the strength of its feet imprinting into the floor. It stopped just before her still on the panel, it licked its teeth with its long tongue that also seemed changed but its weight did not fall through.

Madeline felt her heart sink further in her body it nearly fell through her dry loins. She had hoped that her safety would be insured if the enemy was foolish enough to walk across the panel caving in. Now, the left eye seemed narrowed even further, the right eye seemed ready to pop out and attack as a second enemy, and for the first time that night she noticed how much of a change this man went through, his bone matter had changed shape.

Had B-Garden begun making their SeeDs to be like this one? Could it be genetic experiments and the like? Dr. Kadowaki no doubt would have a hand in it if it were true, Madeline had never entirely trusted the so called good doctor in her time at B-Garden, and she always thought that there was more to the woman than medicinal practice… Nobody with such a fetish for needles could be considered a genuine healer.

A hiss that might have come from a supernatural flame came through the monsters long teeth, it had not attacked yet, it was savoring his time in front of her. It probably wanted to see if she would try to run away, to put more sport in to his hunt that might become a feast.

It quirked an eyebrow at her, which was strange because it seemed too human a gesture for this thing, for a moment Madeline thought there was something obviously human and even separate about the monster. But the obviousness that it was only mocking her erased whatever empathy she might have had for it.

After it decided that Madeline was not in fact going to budge he decided to threaten her, to alarm her, and with its newfound, newly freed weapon. As she was breathing a cloud so thick in front of her eyes that it was a wonder she could see it, it whipped its tail above its head and crashed it against the floor it stood upon.

The cement panel shattered under its feet and it fell into the hole in the floor. It tried to climb back to the surface but rock and pebble fell abundantly and just as quickly as he did leaving him no stable thing to latch on to with its weapons.

It's screamed sounded angry but not a bit afraid, she thought she would need to fear its return once the rock slide subsided. But after a few moments of silence when the screaming stopped, Madeline heard nothing more than the stones and pebbles fall that had not fallen with their kin.

Once she decided that the enemy was of no threat any more Madeline found that her heart was no longer bordering on her labia, but nestling back in its rightful place near her left lung. She stood and found herself lighter than she was earlier, perhaps it was lightheadedness due to hot fear and the destruction of her sister, but she was pretty sure that she had lost several pounds of fat by the heat of her fear from the monstrous SeeD.

Madeline tried to take a few tentative steps towards the potentially dangerous pit, but she nearly fell and had to support herself against the wall with each step. Even though she felt like the air was free from the monsters sadistic taint she couldn't help but be cautious for there were the other SeeDs and apparently a bodyguard… ninja, or something, that they –or rather she- were also up against.

Ninjas and monsters, this was what had become of B-Garden since she left. Despite the novelty of losing a shot at ninja-hood Madeline was more and more appreciative that she had left the place, even if it was to a life like this one.

Feeling disturbingly like a lemming Madeline peered into the pit while holding as firmly as she could to a wall without grooves in it. Peering into the pit she felt like she could expect the monster to leap out at any moment and decapitate her with its teeth, like it would spring up like some death trap of a jack in the box.

But it never came again and neither did its frightening voices. Only the suspicious quiet kept her alert for whatever amount of good that might do for her. Unarmed as she was and only with a Guardian Force she wasn't going to pose much of a threat to her three remaining enemies.

She should have kept her gun she thought, even though she was out of bullets already an unloaded gun was better than fighting unarmed, especially if you had failed the martial arts training as she had. Some SeeDs had gone so far in pistols training as to apply pistol whipping to their martial arts, thereby leaving them with a handy weapon when without bullets. But Madeline, with her deficiency in the subject had always relied on her bullets and magic, she never had wanted to be close in the battle.

But that had always been because she didn't want to risk her own life too dangerously for Cissys sake, now she had to wonder, even in the heat of danger if it was worth it to continue this. She certainly had nobody to survive for that she knew of…

As if in answer to this thought the sound of loud boot steps could be heard from across the hall. Madeline chose not to move, it was coming from the same direction that the monster had come from. She thought, in a moment of rare battle tact that this new enemy might fall for the same trap that the monster had fallen for, it was dark in these corridors after all; she herself might have fallen into the pit in the position of this new enemy.

Madeline stood her ground across the hole in the floor, standing as bait for a second enemy, for surely she had no allies left in the vicinity…

Madeline scowled as a thought of that bitch Ostentat again; she wasn't a client of either party after all. She was probably just a sadist who got off watching people kill each other for her money.

The enemy came into view just as Madeline forced Ostentat out of her mind. It was the tall female SeeD, the one who she nearly had before that ninja interfered. Her weapon was her own again, it was nearly scratching the stone floor she was holding it so far away from herself. Her white hair blew behind her like a forgotten wedding veil and her trench coat flapped behind here as if it couldn't catch up.

"Come on," Madeline whispered but mouthed exaggeratedly so the white haired SeeD would see it, hopefully to be provoked into falling quicker. But it all happened so fast that Madeline couldn't make out if the SeeD had even noticed her face contort.

The SeeD closed in on her not five seconds after she came into view and as if she only wanted to crash Madeline's hopes the SeeD leapt over the pit with such ease that she might have had a spring in her ass. She landed without scraping her sword against the stone and took five steps before Madeline stumbled backwards two. Then as if her arms were being held back by rubber straps then released her arms swung up and carved a deep cut into Madeline from her left kidney through her right breast.

It was such a forceful swipe that the blade seemed to only pass through her body. She felt it catch on bone and slow down inside her body momentarily but it would not have been noticeable to an onlooker. Blood splashed to the wall just before she fell against it to collapse to the stone floor, but the blood from her breast wasted no time in running down her body and collecting on the floor.

It was now that the pain became less interesting as the sensation of numbness that seemed colder than numbness could technically be. And to see her vision fade like that was a vision unto itself. Sound became the same kind of blur that she no longer recognized the way a person completely alive would. Had she heard well she would have heard her killer mutter, 'Draw' but she heard instead gibberish. She did not even feel her Guardian Force drained away. She did not feel her blood as it ran in her body and out of her breast.

_**EG**_

Palidor was quite the intriguing Guardian Force. He did not mourn the extraction or even the death of his original host, in fact, if Joselyn perceived correctly he couldn't really tell the difference between her and its former host. Or perhaps he simply wasn't bothered by it. He flew in the expanse of her mind just as he might if he were called upon.

Joselyn sliced through the skirt the dead WeeD was wearing with a certain amount of satisfaction, she took the piece of cloth from her legs, and wiped the remaining blood from her sword. She slung Grave's jacket over her shoulder, turned her heel and didn't bother to look where she was throwing the cloth when she tossed it over her shoulder. In fact –and this was perhaps a kind of sadism that she wouldn't have had she not known Grave- she imagined the cloth landing in the opening she'd carved into the chest, and thus scoring twenty imaginary points.

Joselyn had been only a minute away when she heard the sound that must have been Grave falling through the floor. After rushing in to perhaps encounter the WeeD she just successfully slew, Joselyn had been following from a distance the sounds of her enemies being torn to shreds and lumps. She had wisely, yet guiltily stayed only near enough to judge precisely where the sounds were coming from.

The truth was she was afraid of Grave again, now more than she had ever been, it was only because of her ally-hood with him… and her crush, that she was even trying to follow him. For she knew that if she could turn him back now, now that their mission was officially over, he might still be the boy who she read poetry with in the park…

But there was a nagging feeling in her now, like an insulting little devil on her shoulder that suggested that he might not change back this time if he caught her scent. Perhaps she would need to go farther than just showing him her neck…

… She didn't want to think what sort of things he'd do to her with that tail…

Now he had extinguished the seven other WeeDs that she had confirmed, along with following the sounds Joselyn had followed the carnage. Rather than being random looking violence like she might have thought, the trail of blood and guts and weapons was rather distinguishable as a trail.

Now he was presumably in this pit, and she was still feeling hesitant to be too near him. No matter how much she told herself that this was the Grave she knew and shared an apartment with, but all she could imagine was the one that had attacked her when they first met, he who smelled her and reverted and leapt from a moving plane on their field exam… Only this Grave was a thousand times worse, and she couldn't help but worry if this Grave wasn't on her side.

Ultimately she told herself once and for all that Grave was still hers, and when she couldn't believe herself she simply told herself that she was wrong and that if Grave decided to shred her to death then so be it.

Throwing caution to the wind, Joselyn took a deep breath and without releasing it she stepped into the pit. The fall was fast, she didn't even have time to let go of her breath and so once she did land the wind was knocked out of her. Only momentarily did she feel the worry of being left unguarded, but then she reminded herself that there were no enemies left in the vicinity, no matter how much she didn't believe that.

The pit was dank and even colder than the corridors or the ice lake. She reluctantly rolled down her sleeves for sake of keeping her arms warm and still a part of her. Now with this new need to get out of there with her ally, Joselyn found it a bit easier to call Graves name.

"Grave," she breathed and she shivered when she heard a jerk across the room.

It was too dark to make out his finer features but the swiveling mass of darkness on the other side of the room was unmistakably him. He was like a chameleon in the darkness he thought; he was blending perfectly in the way of color, but shaped like a man rather than a frozen stone wall, or the stone face atop a tomb that he stood before.

"Joselyn," he said with only half of the voice she recognized, and not the voice she loved to hear. It was the reptilian voice hungry for _something_, it was aroused and anticipatory.

"Grave," she began. Had to fight the feeling that she shouldn't say more so as not to provoke him. "You're on our side still right?" she finished hopefully, almost like a little girl who _knew_ that Grave would chew out her throat.

Grave did not respond at first and Joselyn wished with all her soul if there was such a thing that she could see his face. But she was without any magic; with a fire spell she could maintain a torch easily, but Grave had all of their magic, she needed him to let her draw in order to have light.

Grave began to move tentatively towards her, not because he was afraid of her, but because he was worried he would frighten her. He approached her the way someone might approach a deer for hope that it wouldn't gallop away. Joselyn with her long legs would be one to gallop, surely.

But Joselyn stood still for him. She trusted him, betraying her baser instincts and stood her ground. As Grave came closer his features only became a bit more recognizable, she could make out only shapes, his eyes, his enhanced grin, his hair.

His crowbars were hanging from their hooks on his pants, she only noticed this once he held out his arms to her "I won't do anything, I just want…" and he held onto her arms.

He didn't need to finish, she knew what he wanted, and in this state of things she was relieved that he was after her. She moved her hair away from her neck and presented herself to him. Grave nestled his distorted face against her skin affectionately and although worried, Joselyn felt happy that he was so insistent and comfortable against her.

_**EG**_

I have never been so grateful to have Joselyn. That WeeD was nearly mine, but I had to frighten her more, to threaten her and show her exactly how powerful I was. I wanted to make her as weak as I could before I plucked out her bones like she was a fillet of wild salmon…

But she was either a good strategist or simply keen to rely on luck. Falling into a pit is never something you can count on for your enemy to fall for unless if you've planned it thoroughly. I want to think she was just lucky.

Judging from the sounds I heard before Joselyn joined me I think that she dealt with the WeeD, which leaves zero enemies in the vicinity not including any monsters we might encounter on our way out. Now our mission is complete, now I can stop being this thing at the time when I don't care to be it, now that Joselyn is with me.

I suck at Joselyn's skin with my nose without embarrassment. I may feel awkward once my transformation is reversed but moments before that it hardly matters. I feel the familiar rush of cold and sweetness racing faster than my blood, the smell of her pools in the back of my throat and my mouth waters when I taste it. If not for the pacification I feel when this happens I'd try to ravage her here on the cold stone floor.

I feel better at once but I hesitate to let go of her. I'd like for her to be under the impression that this takes longer than it actually does. Although it doesn't feel right to lie to her about anything, but a little bit of secrecy here and there can't hurt terribly, I think.

Joselyn tries to speak and she startles me. She giggles a lit bit but she doesn't wriggle out of this now embarrassing embrace I have her in. She whispers to me like she doesn't want to surprise me a second time. "Can I draw from you? I need some fire for light."

"Sure," I say but I don't let go, she giggles as I clutch her.

It is not painful for magic or Guardian Forces to be drawn from your body. Even when an enemy does it to you, it isn't necessarily pleasant either. The sensation is only energy leaving your body the way a liquid serpent might. I faintly feel warmth coming out the small of my back where Joselyn is drawing with her hand indicating that she located the fire spells.

Joselyn removes one hand from me and in that hand a wad of orange light manifests and maintains. This is amazing, nobody does that with magic, I should ask-

"AH!"

Joselyn plants herself against the wall and leaves me standing in the same position I was in that moment ago. She looks appalled but she's recovering. Her face looks less a fright but now more concerned, even piteous.

"What?" I ask sounding as angry as I am escalating to.

"You," she began but suddenly looked to be choking. "You're not normal again yet," she says quickly, almost like she is worried that I would lash out at her.

But her message has something else on my mind. I quickly look at my hands, and I almost want to cry when I see those black veins beneath the specks of coagulated blood that hasn't yet flaked off of my skin.

No, this isn't happening. Joselyn always changed me back; she has to change me back now that I've changed more than ever…

I don't want to check, but I will inevitably so I should just get it over with now. With one swift movement, as if I were stripping a band aid off of my skin swiftly to avoid prolonged pain, I swing my whole tail in front of myself.

When it first sprouted I was morbidly happy to see it. To have another weapon just appear like that, and with such control as if I've had it all my life, that was a blessing in our situation. But now I hate this thing. I would rather have this at command; I don't think that I could live with this permanently…

…Permanently, I hadn't thought of that before…

"Hyne will I ever turn back?" I say out loud, not because I want Joselyn to hear but because I simply want to say it, just to be sure if I still have my own voice…

…And I do actually, the other voice speaking with me has gone, maybe there's some hope…

"Yes, of course you will Grave," Joselyn is only trying to reassure me, that isn't helpful, for all she knows about this I could change more at any moment.

I almost want to run to her again because I know just as much as she does, but she is clearly too afraid of me as I am to touch me. And if she can't change me back… then she probably won't ever want to touch me…

Joselyn steps towards me but I can tell by the look on her face that she's forcing herself to do it. She probably wants to just leave me here so that she doesn't have to look at me this way. She's no different from my fucking enemies right now, in fact, who's to say she was any different before? What if she was just playing a game with me, to get my hopes up just so she could hack them down.

I feel her free hand on my shoulder and I swipe it away like I want it to come off, but I don't really, so it stays intact. She looks alarmed and disappointed but I believe she's only feigning it. She's a normal human after all, and lying is what humankind does best it seems.

"Piss off," I hiss out, it sounds less impressive than the original voice would have sounded but judging by the look on her face I think that I struck a chord.

I realize that I'm not turning to the exit but the exit is not where I want to go now. I turn on my heel and leave her to investigate the stone face that I was pawing after I fell in here. As angry at Joselyn as I am right now I'm glad that she can provide me some light until Cody and Savior retrieve us.

As I expected Joselyn follows me to the stone face after a time. I don't look at her, but I can feel her eyes on the side of my head. Her stare, unlike others feels almost lopsided to me. The darker eye seems to leave a deeper impression, yet the lighter one seems to be more piercing.

This goes to show how much time I spend with this woman, if I'm picking apart the experience of her staring at me. Why have I been putting so much into her? I always believed that she would eventually be too angry or afraid of me to be around me, but I had to keep her around didn't I?

I bring my attention back outward once Joselyn casts her lit palm over the stone face. As I suspected it is a woman's face, and it is on top of an oversized coffin. Apparently we are not actually on the other side of the room, at the foot of this coffin we are in the middle of the room, which suggests that a very large person is inside this stone. Curious that there is only a face on top of this tomb, and at the spot where the feet would presumably be.

Joselyn brings her palm to the base of the tomb and I make myself annoyed by that. With nothing else that I can see clearly I look at what she is investigating.

At the foot of the casket there has been writing chiseled, having found this my anger at Joselyn wanes just a bit. I kneel beside her and try to ignore her obvious apprehension; I shouldn't be caring after all… the scripture reads thusly.

_Here rests Esper Lich. Left to rest until called upon again. _

_Never to answer to a human nor sorceress, but only to her comrades._

_Esper Salamander,_

_Esper Terrato,_

_These are the voices that will open this bed,_

_I am waiting for you comrades._

Joselyn casts her sideways glance my way and for the first time tonight she looks less concerned about my appearance and more concerned about our situation. She knows that I have Salamander back.

"You should do it," she says with her voice surprisingly even.

"I should do what? I can't make Salamander speak."

She shrugs and looks back to the scripture; apparently feeling that she should re-read it.

I stand, and stare at the stone face. It is the likeness of a woman, and perhaps the likeness of Lich before her face eroded into its likeness of death. In the books about Guardian Forces it stated that Lich, Salamander and Terrato never planned on obeying humans. Salamander obviously overcame that decision. But what this brings up is that if Salamander were free he could speak, as he is inside me he can not make a sound; even I don't hear him doing anything. I am aware of him, but he does not affect any of my senses, such is the nature of junctioning. If only there was a way for him to operate through me so that I wouldn't have to risk giving him up…

I touch the lips of Lich's likeness experimentally, I am sure that this won't work, but I should try, and I need to kill some time without Joselyn before Cody and Savior arrive.

"Lich, Salamander is here," I whisper, and at once my whisper is pulverized just the way the lid of the casket is.

The lid of the casket literally explodes once the words leave my lips. Rather than stone shrapnel spreading in every direction it becomes a cloud of fine powder that spreads through the room with the same force and sound of a magic explosion. The stone face is the first section to go, followed by the rest of the casket exploding in a straight line pattern.

Joselyn is blown back against the wall from the force but my tail holds me in place. And I'd be lying if I didn't feel my spite ease just a bit. I have not the time to brace myself which is perhaps more miraculous for I can't imagine how I would have brace my self for a point blank range explosion.

I feel like I'm being held here by the same force that created the explosion, as if I have been made a pillar to withstand the force.

The powder settles and from it emerges just the entity that the casket claimed it held. Upon first glance she looks simply like a figure billowing like black fire. But quickly after she shrugs the dust from her frame –which forces it away like an elephants foot to the ground- her skeletal frame is made out under the tattered garb she wears.

The presence of an unbound Guardian Force is extraordinary. When you are junctioned with one you feel their power in your body, and when you feel that you think that this must be as amazing as these entities can be to you. Only when you feel their whole power inside of you will you understand the gravity of their power.

But this is far heavier. True, I cannot fell the full magnitude of Lich's power but to feel that power as possibly untrustworthy, not in my control, that is far more powerful. I cannot predict her; I don't think that I could even fight her. I don't think that I could fight this power of darkness that writhes around her like another living thing.

Joselyn's fire spell has burnt out at this point. The room is instead lit with Lich's presence rather than with any kind of light. A Guardian Force, dark or otherwise is always seen despite the scenery, they are always creatures meant to be seen.

Lich does not look at me at first. She instead scans the area apparently searching for Salamander. Her glance lands on Joselyn for a moment, but she looks at her the same way she does the scenery and then looks away as if she didn't just see something that was alive.

It does not take her long to land her eyeless sight on me. Although her face is, well, not quite a face I can see annoyance on it. It's almost as if her bones contort to make up for her inability to move flesh for a facial expression. But if that is in fact what she does, then it is so subtle that I can't confirm it.

"_As I dreaded,_" she speaks with a voice that is not really a voice, but a sound that simply manifests and warps all around me. But in the language that I understand and with the bothered tone of voice that I am so accustomed to myself.

Lich raises one hand to her shoulder height, her fingers flicking in the manner as her seemingly living robes. Then in one swift movement she comes down to my level-

-and plunges one arm into my chest.

The pain is a thousand times more incredible than her presence, I cannot scream for my lungs are obstructed by her hand of pure pain magic. In that instant I expect death, I regret the thoughts I have had of Joselyn in between now and moments ago. But death does not come. Despite how she seems to be staring me into my face with an unpleased look on her non-face. She only maintains the pain in my chest, which I notice, despite her long arm being nearly armpit deep into me, is not reaching out of my back. It stops inside me as if there is something bottomless in my body that she's reaching through.

Then for the first time in my life I hear that voice that has strengthened me ever since I was nothing but fourteen and confused, and it comes from my own mouth which as of now is not my own.

"_Lich I presume?_" says a sly, hot amphibians voice rhetorically, like somebody speaking with somebody they know better than any other.

"_What is this madness Salamander?_" Lich says without humor from her old friends joke. "_You have become one with a human,_" she elevates what was once her eyebrow. "_Or something,_" she finishes insultingly, but without my voice, and with her arm inside my body I do not care to show her my frustration.

"_He is human,_" he says defensively, "_And I have good reason to bond with Grave._"

"_His name is Grave?_" she asks curiously, and had I not been subject to this pain I would want to laugh at this, even higher entities with unusual names themselves think it strange that my name is Grave.

"_Yes,_" he says like it is no matter, "_And for the record the bonding which the humans call 'junction' is not degrading as we have always assumed,_" he says with conviction which will no doubt match Lich's oncoming apprehension.

"_Of course,_" says Lich sarcastically. "_You did not arrive of your own accord obviously, so this is by fortunate chance_?"

"_It is,_" he says with a hint of pride. "_But I'm afraid the only part of this ordeal that is chance is the location, the witch is back, I'm sure that you've noticed,_" he finishes morosely, and past the pain I start to worry.

"_I have," _she paused. "_Do you care to tell me how she was defeated before? I could not help but notice the distortion of time… how long ago was it_?" she gestures with her free hand. I notice now, now that I can notice unimportant things like this gesture the pain is becoming less important.

"_Three years ago, and it was the SeeDs who dealt with her, I regret that I was not present during their journey._"

"_You would say that NOW wouldn't you_?" she asks scornfully, more as an insult than a question.

"_I have a plan Lich, and I need your help, in fact we'll need to find Terrato too. You feel the demon inside the boy don't you_?"

Lich calms at once, her non-face gives me the impression that Salamander is not telling a joke, and now I am more concerned than before.

"_You will be fine Grave,_" Salamander assures me, speaking to me for the first time, and alarms me to the apparent fact that they are aware of me; they have not given me that impression thus far.

"_Yes,_" she says suddenly and I am startled again, my tail quivers contradicting its strength "_It is her second knight_?" she asks incredulously.

"_It is,_" Salamander says softly. "_That is why I need you Lich, I have kept it from corrupting the boy thus far, but with your help and Terratos I could be sure that the demon will not come out before he must._"

Lich says and does nothing again. Quite the third wheel I am I think… Lich does not look terribly happy about any of this, and nor does she seem happy with herself. Although I must admit that happiness is not a part of this woman's countenance to begin with, so it may mean little.

"_It isn't terribly degrading you say_?" she asks unhappily, almost like she wants it to be terribly so that she won't decide to do it.

I feel Salamanders amphibious smile inside me somewhere. "_I myself am quite at home in this boy now, although I admit I would love to stretch someday._" Lich frowns, and Salamander smiles more.

"_Very well,_" she says gloomily, and then she looks directly at me. Although she was looking into my face while she spoke with Salamander she never seemed to be looking at me really, now her focus is on me, her stare is as strong as Joselyn's, except of course it matches.

"_Tell me Grave, will you be grateful for my help, even though you can't be sure what I will be doing for you_?" She's being cryptic on purpose; she must think that I'm her last hope for excusing herself.

If I remember correctly, Lich was never fond of participating in Salamanders schemes, I suppose that holds true.

I feel a release on my lungs without movement on her part, and I am permitted to speak "You… withhold the powers of my dreams Lich, I would be honored to have your assistance." My voice is my own again. I know now that there is no way for her to refuse, she would know if I were lying.

Lich says no more. Instead she plunges her other arm inside me and the pain blooms anew. She no longer has her hold on my lungs and so I am allowed to scream. Hearing my own scream, I'm surprised and separately relieved to sound as human as I do. With her arms in my chest, Lich literally dives inside me, and as quickly as the explosion of her coffin came, her powerful aura vanishes from the room and goes completely into my body.

I fall, and collapse on the powder floor. I had not realized that I was levitated into the air before, but my tail breaks my fall. I cannot bring myself to worry about Joselyn, I cannot bring myself to care when Cody and Savior show up, if they show up.

_This is easily one of my favorite installments. You can tell why._


	9. Love Minus Confession

_Disclaimer/AN: I don't own it, deal with it Square-enix, you're rich enough without suing for my non-money. This song is meant to be a romantic message from Joselyn to Grave and nobody else really._

_You give me a heart attack, you look like the summertime, you call me an artifact, but I'll save that for another time._

_I could be rich or poor, I don't need anymore._

_Keep your love inside the kitchen you can feed me anything, leave the feathers on the chicken, and peel the leather from your skin._

_I can be young or old, sweet or sad, hot or cold._

_Man or animal I don't care at all, find the antidote underneath the dose, man or animal obedient –out of control._

_I will love you more than money, I will breath you in the smoke, I will drink you in my honey sweet and golden down my throat._

_When you're right, when you're wrong, head is near, eyes are gone._

_You can drown my appetite, I will sip your tears at night, and you can tie me to a chair, skin and bones I don't care._

_I could be rich or poor, I don't need anymore._

_Man or animal I don't care at all, find the antidote underneath the dose, man or animal obedient –out of control._

_You give me a heart attack, I will give you more than that, you give me a heart attack, I will give you more than that._

_Man or Animal by Audioslave._

**Part Nine: Love Minus Confession**

**She Is Risen (Cont')**

"She is risen," said Terra, after turning her head another direction the way an animal would upon hearing a loud sound.

Fujin awoke from wakeful sleep upon hearing Terra's voice. She almost didn't make out what Terra said but she did awake soon enough. One might say Terra had Fujin's full attention whether she was demanding it or not.

Meeting Terra face to face had brought an unexpected rush of excitement to Fujin. So much so that Raijin had nearly had to take command of the mission. This was decidedly un-good. And so Fujin decided to employ crude meditation to avoid thinking about Terra in any way other than her mission objective.

The meditation had gone surprisingly well she thought, if she was thinking about anything it was how she was going to report to Xu when they returned. She had narrowed it down to the way she was going to part her hair –not at all like usual, she would simply through it all to one side as she often did. And the whole time she even managed to keep her underwear dry.

It was especially impressive since Terra was forced to sit in Fujin's lap for the entire flight.

Initially Fujin had shaken her head vigorously at the idea; being behind Terra at the time she thought it was okay to signal Raijin thusly. For some embarrassing reason, she thought that kicking Raijin in the shins would give Terra a bad impression, so she was forced to rely on the non-physical method.

Mouthing her rejection of the idea however did not work, but it was not because she wouldn't abuse Raijin, rather it was for sake of sensibility and safety. The pilot's seat and the cockpit passenger's seat were obviously taken already. And despite the fact there was room in the mercenary seating area for a fifth body there was not a fifth restraint. It would not matter who would seat with the kids, it simply wasn't safe for anybody to be in the Whelp during flight without a restraint, even for Fujin who was currently juncitoned because it was not her vitality that was enhanced.

Raijin had proclaimed that two people would not fit in the restraints in the back. And since he was the pilot he could not have a body in his lap, Fujin thought -with protectiveness that by all rights she shouldn't have had- that she wouldn't want Terra in Raijin's lap anyway.

And so Fujin was forced to withstand Terra's impossibly soft ass on her lap; the not generous but still enticing amount of cleavage directly in front of her face –Terra was sitting sideways on Fujin- and of course the smell that came from the woman.

Presumably being located in the middle of a mountain for so long would have anybody foul but Terra and the children were clean, even dressed rather nicely for some reason. To top it all off Fujin was forced to wrap her strength juncitoned arms around Terra since she couldn't wear a restraint.

Fujin had never felt so close to the edge in her life, even back in the day when she had her temporary crush on Seifer, she had never felt concerned about being unpleasant or simply creaming on the spot.

So it was no wonder why Fujin hesitated to speak after Terra spoke her cryptic phrase, for concern that her voice would crack another way than the one she often forced.

"Who is risen?" Fujin asked tentatively, and she was relieved after she didn't make herself sound foolish somehow.

Terra turned her gaze to Fujin then which blew some of her supernatural scent against Fujin's face like expensive powder, Fujin tried hard not to flutter her eyes "Esper Lich, she has come from her prison in the tomb of the unknown king." Fujin only caught the words because she was genuinely interested in what Terra had to talk about, but she had nearly drowned too deeply in the womans eyes to make it out.

One word didn't quite register with her however, and throwing caution to the wind she decided to ask if she had in fact said 'Esper,' "Did you say Esper?" Terra continued looking to Fujin with an expression that Fujin hoped was not boredom, or annoyance, but she could think of nothing else for that look to convey.

As if she knew exactly what she would need to tell Fujin she explained. "Esper is what my people call ourselves," she paused for a moment and continued considering Fujin. "I should have known that humans would not know our peoples proper name what do your people call us?"

"Guardian Forces," Fujin said obediently, while Raijin –luckily for him out of their sight- grinned a grin that would threaten to split the upper have of his head from the lower.

Terra seemed to consider that name as if it were bland food in her mouth. "I suppose those of us with hearts for humans would be pleased with such a title," her tone said that she was not one of those Espers, and so Fujin did not ask her what she would like to be called. Terra turned her head away from Fujin and back to the window where it was for most of the flight so far.

Fujin felt uncomfortably like unappreciated furniture in more ways than one at the moment, so she chose to change the subject to what the main matter of interest for B-Garden would be. "How do you know that Lich is back?"

"I feel her they way you would feel wind, Lich is a very powerful being, I'm sure that all of my people feel her, more so than I do." Terra did not turn her head back to Fujin.

"That's fascinating," Fujin said.

"You think so?" Terra asked a bit interestedly.

"Yes, humans aren't that way with each other."

"Humans are more often in nearby contact with one another than Espers in these times," Terra said simply, there was a kind of finality to it, but Fujin didn't want to believe that she was asking her to shut up, all of this was too interesting to simply ignore or forget about.

"You're saying that it was like evolution? You needed some other way to have contact and so that is just they way you are now?"

"Yes," Terra said with the same tone as before.

Fujin was now feeling overly tentative and so she shut up after Terra's final syllable.

Here is the time again she thought, to relax and control my thoughts. Fujin closed her eyes again and tightened her grip with only her knuckles. She was doing her best not to embrace Terra affectionately. Her arms were around the woman's waste but she wasn't quite touching her, rather she was just being like two chain links bound together, her fingers the point where she was applying tension.

Oh but it was so tempting, she had already planned her report for Xu, so she was fast running out of important things to plan. With having the lives of those in the training center as her primary concern, Fujin was left with fewer things to worry about. She had fewer responsibilities now that she was no longer taking classes in B-Garden. Raijin was less of an oaf and could now be left alone with the scissors, and Seifer was simply gone.

Fujin was inwardly alarmed at that moment at how little burdens she had. Without arrogance she thought to herself that she could handle more responsibilities. Her non-blood brothers did not need her help so much as they once did, she had no papers to turn in, she only watched out for mercenaries in a human made jungle and from time to time dealt with missions just as she was now.

'Damn woman, you need pussy worse than I do,' Seifer's voice spoke inside her head, and she couldn't resist grinning. She was sure that even if Seifer did come back, changed even, he would have said that to her word for word.

Fujin forgot about Terra for a second and in that second she chuckled to herself. Fujin was embarrassed when she opened her eyes again. Terra was looking at her. She had begun looking at her after she closed her eyes. Her face felt a bit hotter then and she hoped she wasn't blushing.

"I know that laugh," Terra began, and without knowing Terra was going to continue Fujin waited for her to speak again. "You are reminiscent," if Fujin could have been watching herself, she would have been embarrassed by how impressed she looked that Terra was reading her.

"I was thinking of something that my old friend would have said," Fujin replied, now trying to keep the obedience out of her voice.

"Seifer," Raijin said assuredly from his position on the nose of their aircraft.

"Always, Raijin," Fujin said gratefully, she was happy that he was finally saying something to them, a third wheel was just what she needed right now.

"A long and lost friend I assume?" asked Terra, she sounded suspiciously interested and for once as soft as she felt. Fujins heart was lifted when she heard this so she was not suspicious as she normally would have been.

"He is, yes," she said as if Terra was already somebody interested in her found in a bar, or better yet a friend.

"So we can relate" Terra commentated with the smallest of smiles and Fujins heart simply inflated.

"You have somebody long and lost then?" Fujin asked as politely as she could muster.

"All of my people actually, but my father in particular. It has been too long since I had close contact with another of my kind."

Fujin's heart sank the tiniest bit. "Then I don't think we can relate entirely," she tried to keep most of the disappointment out of her voice. "I still have Raijin," she imagined Raijin smiling at that, but having the intelligence to keep his eyes on the sky.

"That isn't so different, you're just more fortunate then I am. But I did have the children."

"Speaking of which," Raijin interjected, "We're almost to the orphanage now."

"Wonderful, I don't think that the children are afraid but I know that they would not like it in there," said Terra, who perked her chest a bit, sidetracking Fujins mind for the umpteenth time during their flight.

_**EG**_

After Matron brought Squall back from the watery grave they went back to the house and stationed themselves on the porch. Cid and Edea wanted to watch the children and Squall didn't protest, he didn't particularly want to watch the children but he didn't want a load of stuff that was happening to him. Perhaps watching some children laugh and play was hardly the worst thing that could happen to him at this point.

They became quiet after they returned to the house. Presumably nothing new had happened on their end of things apart from the kids having their first injuries and other such things that Cid and Edea had witnessed a thousand times in the past. Squall himself had run out of things to say, unfortunately he knew that there was something else that he wanted to mention to them. He supposed we would remember later though, at an opportune moment hopefully… Most likely an inopportune moment he thought, after considering it for a moment.

"Matron, Cid!" called the young boy Squall had seen earlier that day, before he investigated the crash sight of Seifers father and his pick up truck coffin. He couldn't remember the boy's name, and then he could remember that neither Cid nor Edea had spoken the child's name in front of him yet.

The boy was running from the backside of the house, away from the rest of the children, half of which were still trying to teach themselves how to hotwire the hayride. He skidded across the dirt path and nearly fell down, but he caught himself before Edea stood up to help him.

"There's a thing coming!" he said breathlessly and pointed to the backside of the house. The boy looked afraid, but Cid was smiling at him, like he was the boy who cried wolf and he was the adult who understood him.

"Could you be less vague Garek?" Cid asked half jokingly.

"It's flying, and it's big," he took a deep breath and made himself stand straight. He looked less afraid now and more proud to be giving a report, he would no doubt be a SeeD someday thought Squall.

Hopefully the boy wouldn't be under his command.

"I'll take a look," Squall said, "you two can stay here and deal with this kid." Squall did not look at the child assuming that he was getting a nasty look from him by saying 'kid.'

It took Squall a bit longer than he might have thought to walk around the house to the backyard. Now that the house was repaired and rebuilt it was larger but Squall kept forgetting that, he could only imagine this place the smaller, more haggard building it was when he was still very young.

Squalls face fell when he made it to the backyard and spotted the 'big flying thing' that Garek spotted moments ago. It was still very distant but it would not be that for long. For on the few missions that he had joined in the past few years that they had the Whelps, he came to understand their useful speed, and their distinctive colors and markings. It was almost like a birdwatcher studying the plumage but instead a man with less scientific or hobby interest.

Squalls face certainly didn't go slack for disappointment. Rather he was too shocked to have an actual expression for a few moments. He had not called this Whelp, Cid and Edea _couldn't_ have called it because they did not have anything more advanced than a dishwasher in the orphanage now –they received their information by visits from his friends, mostly Quistis of course.

So why on Gaia was there a Whelp here, now? He wasn't aware of any missions requiring Whelps beginning before he was first whisked away by the golden light… But then again he had no idea how long ago that had been. He still didn't fully –or rather he didn't understand at all- the nature of his teleportation yet. Therefore he didn't quite know how long ago that was. For all he knew about this Xu could have taken control of B-Garden by now.

Perhaps he could confirm that now…

Squall finally managed a smile and he waved his hands diligently above his head in a manner which he would most often not perform. But now he could not register embarrassment very well, he thought that he was going home…

…And at once that inopportune moment that he feared was coming. It was faint, but by now he recognized it like the smell of Rinoas peony shampoo before sleep –minus the euphoria of course. A sliver of golden electricity passed across his vision again looking much like the lonely sliver of meat in a slice of fatback.

He then remembered that last thing that he wanted to tell his surrogate parents, "Cid, Edea!" he yelled much the way Garek had a few minutes ago, "I'm going to res…" before he could finish that last key word the deafening sound of the golden energy drowned out his voice.

The other sound must have called their attention because they were dashing around the house again as he tried to repeat himself. Again, he only reached the 'Z' sound value before he was drowned out by the golden sound a second time. Edea's hands went to her mouth at once, for all the magic power she had managed to keep despite the extraction of her sorceress potency, she wouldn't be able to do anything for her surrogate son. Even the most skilled cannot do very much when opposed to something that they don't identify.

Squall tried to repeat himself again but something familiar happened, for the second time the energy was literally _attacking_ him. The only thing Squall could really do was remember being on the podium in B-Garden, when the energy struck him and he felt no physical pain. The energy was swirling around him like so many white ribbons sparking yellow-gold and they collected in front of him, then a larger one speared him in the chest.

Squall lost his breath and his attention span at once when it felt like the energy pierced his body completely, going through his spinal cord it seemed. For the first time Squall passed out before he was moved elsewhere.

_**EG**_

"There was a disturbance on the ground," Terra proclaimed and once again Fujin snapped to attention from her self induced reverie.

It was harder this time, to think of something else. Until she decided to dwell on how pathetic she seemed to herself right now. She had been reduced to puppy-dog-hood instantly by the woman on her lap and now that she was making herself think of other things she could come to that realization completely.

Interestingly, it was easier to focus away from sexual fantasy when Terra was speaking. Fujin decided it was because the woman was speaking of things other than sex, yet the woman herself had her attention completely. It was a shame that Terra was mostly silent during their flight.

"A disturbance?" Fujin asked sounding more normal than what was normal for that day, getting used to Terra's presence was making it somewhat easier to be more of a person and less of a rambling pile of jelly.

"Time… is disrupted again, I have felt it many times as of late." Terra was looking away from Fujin again, so she did not see the woman's eyes widen at her.

Time is being disrupted again she just said, it couldn't be. But it must be she thought, and for once that day she was not simply trusting Terra's judgment because she was attracted to her. Terra was half Esper, she felt things in the chaotic energy that ran the planet, and she had to be right, Terra couldn't be wrong about this.

But if that was true… then Squall and the others clearly hadn't done quite the good job they thought they had done against the great witch.

They landed and thankfully Fujin noticed. Apparently Terra was not so profound a distraction as to keep her from noticing the gravity of two tons of metal settling on the ground. The cockpit's window flipped open so quickly that even Raijin, the one who was familiar with the aircraft did not leave at once, because they did not realize at once that they could get out.

With the bug from the field exam fixed, Raijin merely with the push of a button opened the bottom of the Whelp quickly so that the children could exit the aircraft. Raijin actually flipped out of his seat and on to the ground, with all of the poise and acrobatics that one wouldn't expect from the large man. Fujin would have done the same thing, in fact she would have done much better, but Terra was still on her lap –and hopefully, Terra might require help getting out she thought secretly, just before she wondered if Terra could read minds.

Fujins throat tightened for fear that she might lose whatever control she was using and speak what she was thinking out loud. Terra stood up from Fujins lap seeming disconnected from her direction entirely. Fujins hopes were dashed then, and then she was very alarmed when Terra put one leg then the other outside of the Whelp without so much as supporting the lip with her arms. Fujin stood quickly to grab her but Terra jumped out, it was not really a far fall, but she was likely to get hurt despite that.

Fujin felt silly when she looked over the lip and saw Terra's descent slow, she was floating to the ground, of course, Terra was an Esper, and Espers often floated. It was interesting that Fujin only forgot that Terra was half Esper when she was thinking on the matter of harm.

In a very childish –and with her current train of thought, embarrassing- way Fujin was disappointed that Terra was not looking her way then. But regardless Fujin placed her hands on the lip of the cockpit and flipped her legs expertly out of the Whelp, and her feet touched the ground just as she finished the two hundred and seventy degree movement. Her legs moved just right, she was like a human butterfly knife; anybody watching would have been rather impressed.

Normally Fujin wouldn't care.

"Did you see him?" shouted the familiar voice of their Matron Edea. This made Fujin rush in her direction, she did not quite catch up to Raijin for he had begun running as well, but she passed Terra who clearly felt alien to whatever was going on.

Normally Edea gave a warm welcome when her children arrived for a visit or any other occasion. She would address each of those who would arrive by their first names, and then she would greet physically each one in whatever way they preferred, be it a hug or a kiss on each cheek. She would be followed by Cid who would always shake the hands of the men.

Normally it was formal introductions and hospitality of the latest guest which was most important, but now something had happened, something was getting in the way of Edea addressing her children by name. So they ran to her.

"We didn't see anybody ya know?" Raijin seemed to slip into his strange method of speech effortlessly; Fujin hoped that she would be so lucky when so close to Terra.

"Oh," Edea moaned piteously and at that moment Cid caught up with her running much the way a British police officer would and consoled her the moment he halted. It was almost like watching the owl swoop down to a rat only to stroke it's back… assuming said owl could fly by flapping its wings comically.

"Squall was teleported here by golden light earlier," Cid explained while clutching his wife and stroking her hair, "and he was taken away again just before you landed."

"He was probably thinking of going home," Edea said into Cid's shoulder, probably not caring if they heard her or not.

"I hope he's all right, he looked in pain when it took him," Cid said, very reluctant to include that last part.

"FINE," Fujin assured not entirely sure of herself, she remembered from her experience with the golden light that it was not painful, perhaps for Squall it was only different.

"Fujin is right, the time disruptions do not cause real harm," Terra spoke very sagely while the four children followed behind her, and with equal sage quality she took her time striding amongst the other people. She was like the character that strode slowly because they knew that panic would only waste energy and in the future waste time.

In fact, if only for the moment Terra seemed to be replacing Edeas position as 'Wisdom Vessel' whilst Edea bawled. She would not bawl for long, and it would not only be because Terra would have an effective way of assuring Squall's safety. Edea simply didn't dwell on anything for very long, it was unwise of course, and she was the wisdom vessel after all.

Edea took a deep breath as she lifted her face from her husbands shoulder. It was happening already, Fujin could tell. She was sure that her Matron would find herself under control again soon. She was even sure that it would happen before they left. It was as if, by holding her breath, that she was suffocating whatever it was that was despairing her. For some surprising reason, Edea didn't seem to notice the children behind Terra.

Terra finally stopped beside Fujin facing Edea. They watched each other eye to eye for a moment before Edea released her breath and said, "You are Terra," Terra nodded. She was not smiling, but Fujin thought that she would be happy that she was recognized by somebody other than Raijin and herself –somebody who wasn't locating her for her power.

"He has been moved again, that is all," Terra said evenly, then she paused as if expecting a reply, even though she didn't really, and of course she would not have one.

Edea blinked many times. She didn't seem offended at all that Terra was not introducing herself formally, despite their knowing of who she was already. It was respect then, which had her blinking, and not smiling forcefully and changing the subject to leave behind the lack of manners.

Terra seemed to exude something though, any lack of manners she might have would be meaningless due to the many ways at which she could be gawked.

"Can you explain this to us?" Edea asked more curiously than hopefully, for she was sure that Terra would say yes for what she knew of her. Edea thought it seemed that there should be no relief about Squall's safety if there was no danger to begin with.

"Of course I can," Terra said assuredly and she nodded again. Nobody but Fujin noticed that she closed and reopened her eyes as she nodded.

"We will go inside then," said Edea then she did take notice of the children. She did not have time to react to their arrival so they would never know if she was happy to see them, at least in that moment. Fujin spoke up at once in case Edea would be unhappy about it no matter how much she doubted that.

"NEED HOME," she said without even referring to the children for she knew that Edea would know whom she was addressing.

Edea looked briefly to Fujin and she smiled, then she looked to Terra and maintained it. Somebody who didn't know Edea might think that she was feigning her happiness but those present knew much better.

"I will take care of them for as long as they need me, I have always preferred by my children numerous"

"You're a woman after mine own heart," Terra said honestly and she smiled only because it seemed necessary to her. Terra turned to the children and kneeled before them. "You will live here now children, these people will be reliable parents; you are to give them the respect that they will earn."

"Will we miss you mama Terra?" asked one of the girls whose voice was rather pretty, Fujin wondered if she only thought that because she was hearing it for the first time. Surely Terra's voice would always be pretty…

Terra decided not to correct the child because of what she was about to do. "I will come here as often as I can," she assured them all and she patted each of them on their heads.

That satisfied the children. They smiled broadly at Terra then, and once Terra stood up and turned around again they turned their halfway enlightened faces on Edea's nearly complete one, with instant obedience that would make most SeeDs blink.

"There are many other children in the front yard, you may play with them," Edea told them, and after one last look and four tight hugs around Terra's legs they ran like they never had before to the other yard to meet the rest of the children.

And with that the adults went into the cottage. Edea and Terra were first closely followed by Fujin, and the men Cid and Raijin followed behind looking as left out as they were.

It took them a bit to reach the dining room. Fujin remembered ages ago when she and Raijin were children. In the smaller more decrepit version of this house there had been no large table. There was a small one which Cid and Edea ate at when they were spending time alone, but at normal meals when they were eating together they sat on the rug on the floor, they would make the formation that a large table would but it didn't simulate the experience.

Fujin clearly remembered the first night that she and Raijin spent in the orphanage. Everybody was seated on the rug and Raijin had already taken a place near Seifer, he had separated him and Squall which did not give him the best start with Seifer, he would find.

Fujin was left standing there on the spot; everybody's eyes were on her. Edea at some point asked her to take a seat, but she didn't do anything but worry that everybody but Raijin would think that she was autistic or something. There were two available spots, one in between Irvine and Selphie and the other was beside Seifer. Fujin was not aware that Irvine and Selphie were playing a game, they had always been fond of one another and so they would try to persuade one another to do the others bidding –perhaps practice for the future relationship, Selphie often won which was perhaps an omen of the future relationship.

At the time Fujin was worried that if she sat between Selphie and Irvine that she would become fond of them and stop caring about Raijin because he had fast had interest in Seifer over the other children -later she would decide that was silly, she was destined to befriend Raijin and Seifer no matter what, they were simply drawn to one another- and at the same time she was worried about becoming Seifers friend, he did not at all seem like a nice child, he seemed dangerous for even her.

In the future she would find only one grand occasion when he would be that, and she had forgiven him.

Eventually Seifer had called to her to just sit with him, he sounded impatient, and something threatening about that challenged her and so she selected Seifer. At one point during the meal Seifer just stared at her for a long time. Later he would tell her that he was trying to get her to talk because she didn't do it a lot -she had countered when he told her that he just thought that silence was unusual since he talked a lot- when she spoke up to ask him what was wrong he simply said 'why do you look weird?'.

Instead of being offended –Edea and Quistis seemed to be doing that for her- Fujin told him about albinism from what she knew of it, and instead of interrupting her or saying a lotof stupid things he just asked her more about herself. This alarmed everybody else at the rug so afterward he had them hang out away from the other children, he must have wanted to keep these new people to himself, now that he had found people who he really did like.

That was why Fujin and Raijin had become Seifer Almasy's friends; he seemed to dislike everybody but them and Edea whom Fujin herself respected greatly. He made them feel like real people, and throughout their lives even after meeting him, very few others were like that, nobody else was quite like him, not even Edea in fact.

Now Seifer was gone and this room left her with the impression that the front door was not a door, but an opening between different realities. The amount of framed pictures on the walls was amazing. Many of which Fujin recognized from the history books in B-Gardens library regarding the women's movement. Fujin was amazed when Raijin told her that he hadn't noticed that after they had regained memories, Fujin had noticed at once and wondered if Raijin was the only one, though never did she investigate.

She wondered then if Squall had ever noticed, surely he had.

Rather than one worn rug there was a real carpet, and in the middle of it was a long table with seating for more people than there were in the vicinity. Fujin thought then that Cid and Edea expected to have more children in the house eventually if they had seating for more children than they actually had, even with the additional four from today.

They all seated themselves on one end of the table, Edea at the head with Cid on her right, Terra sat to her left, Fujin sat beside her and that left the spot farthest from the conversation to Raijin.

The Vessels of Wisdom brought their attention on one another while the other three simply watched.

"What's happening, what do you mean by time disruption?" asked Edea to begin it all.

"It is when something is randomly warped by past, present, and future, it is the after effect of time compression," she said simply, as if it meant little to nothing to her. The other people at the table gaped, not including Edea.

"You mean it isn't over?" said Cid finally speaking up.

So it was true, time compression went on somehow, and as Fujin feared that meant…

"Of course not," she said almost like she expected him to know as much as she. "Time Compression will only end when the witch no longer lives in the future where she initiated it."

"You said that Squall was moved," Edea said urging Terra to explain, but also she needed to change the subject if only temporarily. She knew that they were steering toward a great subject and she would never cover her other questions if she allowed them to discuss it now.

Secretly though Edea did not want to talk about the great witch anymore, any amount of delay she could make would make her a little relieved.

"Oh yes, that is how the disruptions operate for the most part. Something is moved to a place where it once was or a place where it will be."

"He said that he went to Winhil, he's been there more than once," she said this to Cid more than to anybody else but she meant to say it to everybody. It went without saying that he grew up in the very building where they sat.

"ME TOO," Fujin said in the way that was cryptic only to Terra. Only when they were children and began their silliness did Fujin feel embarrassed to speak this way, now it was coming back while she was in front of Terra.

She knew why she wanted to speak normally for her, perhaps even in the company of Cid and Edea. It was because she wanted Terra to become as important as Raijin and Seifer in her life, the only two people for whom she would speak normally for. She wanted to put Terra on that level already, all because she wanted to fuck the woman until they passed out.

It was particularly because she for the first time thought that she sounded retarded doing it. And false retardation was not the impression she wanted to give Terra about herself… actually Terra had already heard her speak normally so that wasn't quite it… seemingly random acts of false retardation were not the impression she wanted to give Terra about herself.

"This happened to you too Fujin?" asked Edea for the first time paying particular attention to Fujin.

Fujin nodded when she would have said 'AFFIRMATIVE' thinking that she would not sound retarded if she made no sound at all. Fujin noted now that Terra was looking at her strangely, she thought that she and Edea would mostly focus on one another, but here she was again under Terra's gaze.

_At least she isn't in my lap right now_, Fujin thought.

"What was it like?" Fujin was gradually grateful that Edea was asking her so much, although it would mean embarrassing herself in front of Terra further she would have something else on her mind. And she would be contributing to the discussion which probably concerned her mission at this point. And her mission was supposed to be the first thing on her mind now.

Fujin thought that Edeas main concern was Squalls and her health "PAINLESS, AND…" She wanted to go on but she wasn't sure of what else to say. For being a disruption in time the golden light was rather unremarkable, "BRIGHT," she decided to conclude thinking that there were no other notable qualities about the experience.

"She was nowhere for a while though ya know, she left the night of the last SeeD Inauguration and didn't reappear until the next day," Raijin interjected to Fujin's relief, for it would have taken her a lot of hoarse speaking to get that message across.

"That is not unusual for the time disruptions," said Terra, thusly lifting any amount of doubt that Cid or Edea might have had for Fujin.

Fujin wanted to think that Edea would be entirely relieved to hear all of this but she was silent now, and she only looked mildly relieved. Fujin knew that she was kidding herself to hope that her surrogate mother would feel completely relieved, for only a fool would, a fool who did not think things through.

These time disruptions could bring Squall to places where he has been before. Squall needless to say had been in many a dangerous place, and he was not armed as far as they knew. He could be brought to the island closest to heaven at the feet of a Chimera and therefore be unchangeably boned -unless of course if another disruption were to occur at the very moments of attack, but these disruptions were anything but reliable.

But more worrisome than that was the future. He could be transported to a place where he hasn't been yet as it was in the present. Each of them thought that this was worse. The mysteriousness left everything to the imagination, and that would leave much more creativity than a single Chimera on a distant island.

Fujin judged the look on Edeas face and was sure that she was realizing all of it just as Fujin herself was. Edea was coming to understand Squalls situation, he could be anywhere, and from what Raijin had just told her, and by what Terra just confirmed, Squall could be nowhere as well.

They would stay with Cid and Edea for one more hour. Then Terra would say her good byes to the four children from the mountain and Fujin and Raijin would say their good bye's to their surrogate parents. They would leave when the sun was descending noticeably to bring daylight back to Deling City.

And Fujin would volunteer to sit in the back compartment of the Whelp so that Terra might have the seat to herself.

**Homecoming**

Savior was familiar with the condition that most if not all SeeDs would go through after their first mission with him. They would always survive with him, and scarcely were they injured, but despite that they would be angry that he did nothing when he could have intervened at any time. That his policy was to watch those he was meant to protect when he was meant to keep the squad in good condition. Normally he didn't mind, they only needed to blow off steam and they both knew that, they would later understand that he had done his job adequately and they would usually stop being spiteful.

But never before had said SeeD withheld teeth like knitting needles and a six and a half foot long tail.

Savior did not know Grave particularly well but from what Quistis had said of him he probably understood Saviors position already. But he could not tell himself that enough times to make the boy less unnerving. During the field exam he had glimpsed the face in it's earlier stage but that was all, there were no black veins that stopped and shredded bullets, there was no tail that could grind through a mans spine.

He was not jealous in any way –he was too disturbed to feel anything like jealousy- but Savior was used to being the apprehending being in the back of the Whelp. That was in fact the thing that made the issue with the SeeDs spitefulness easy to deal with. When he could be imperious he was capable of making the SeeD quiet, then they would brood silently for the rest of the flight only to make peace upon landing.

Grave was silent the whole time though Savior could tell that he was angry about it, at least at first. At that moment, in the Whelp perhaps halfway B-Gardens current location in Esthar it was hard to tell what the boy was thinking. It seemed to Savior that the boy was much like he was with that changed face of his, it was like he was wearing a mask, and not speaking made him impossible to read because of that. Savior thought that he was impossible to read with his mask and mouthpiece –he knew it in fact.

It also didn't help Savior for feeling belittled because he was still wearing his stealth uniform which Cody was now consistently referring to as his 'Ninja Gear'. One of the biggest reasons he disliked this outfit –although it did not bother him in the past was that most female SeeDs –and some of the males, he remembered how Quistis laughed when he admitted that to her- would travel their eyes to his groin area which left little more than color to the imagination.

Joselyn had not glanced anywhere from Grave the whole trip however so right now it was not a trouble. In fact Savior was sure she would not glance away from him the whole trip, he was sure that Grave would be very bothered if she did, for they seemed rather sweet with one another.

In the earlier days, when PesticidEs were fewer he would very often find SeeDs glancing there and back then he was completely pleased to see that, despite the knowledge that he wouldn't be fucking them for sake of his identity kept secret. But the flattery was nice.

Eventually, however, Quistis came in to the picture. Quistis was his first profound attraction that he liked to think of. True, he would fantasize of other women as well as her. But on matters of actually sleeping with somebody else he was perplexed. He knew that he could, yet it seemed un-right. In fact the notion of sleeping with somebody else seemed inferior, so much so that he feared he would be impotent with another woman.

Sometimes his testosterone really kicked in however and he would think of trying anyway, SeeDs still looked at him that way, and he was of course being smart with Quistis and hardly going far it at all. Sex would mean no mask, with or without her, and with her he would remain smart about his mask because Quistis was smart.

This was an unusual ride he thought, one SeeD was pissy yet things were still quiet just like usual. But unlike usual he did not feel at all imperious, he was not the one creating the aura of command, and the Seed was presumably understanding of Savior before they even touched ground.

This boy Grave had not yet failed to make things different. Savior had to wonder how different things could be.

_**EG**_

Quistis was convinced that Laguna had absolutely nothing to do with the interior decorating of the presidential palace. It was not only because it was very grand and Laguna didn't seem to plan often for things to be grand, but because it was changed virtually every time they made a visit. Quistis mused sometimes that she might leave it for perhaps an hour, then when she would return it would be rearranged again.

She was currently alone with Kiros Seagill in the smallest study available in the presidential palace. Like most of the building it was startlingly blue with rugs and furniture of dark red and gold for contrast. The bookshelves were for some reason much taller than even Kiros, it was a tall room, but a small one.

Quistis and Kiros sat across from one another in matching arm chairs as tall as Irvine. In between them was a small table with bland wafers and some warm drink which Quistis liked, but had not bothered to ask Kiros about.

They had just arrived, to look at one another and dare one another to begin their talk.

"It is regrettable that we are without our leaders but I daresay that we are fine without them," said Kiros, whose voice of remorse would have been undetectable had anybody else said that.

It was not a good thing to admit but it was true thought Quistis. B-Garden had not sunk in the time of Squalls disappearance. Esthar had not collapsed in the apparently shorter time of Laguna's disappearance. The temporary leaders were doing astounding jobs and they would continue to until their actual leaders were recovered.

Quistis thought that Kiros was the first of the two of them to say that out loud because he was the one running Esthar currently. Quistis had of course done her part to maintain B-Garden but she was doing no more than she did before Squall left. It was Xu who had taken over his position and therefore had done most of his work.

Quistis had thought and even worried that Xu was doing a better job than Squall ever did. Although she was in favor of this operating better some part of her wanted Squall to remain the Headmaster, It simply seemed right, even Xu's enthusiasm for remaining at her current post couldn't sway her.

Xu had not said it out loud but Quistis and everybody else knew that she wanted to be B-Gardens Headmistress permanently. She did however, often say that Squall would want this, and she was alone in believing that. Quistis remembered how reluctant Squall had been to take the job, but he had done well enough that Quistis thought he wanted to keep the job. He would have to have some amount of enthusiasm to do as well as he did.

But Xu did do a better job than Squall had ever; although Quistis wouldn't say this out loud she had admitted it to herself.

Quistis could not rightfully judge how things were in Esthar by comparison –to it self, not B-Garden- and even the citizens of Esthar probably couldn't do that for Kiros had not taken command for long, the after of their before and after comparison was only a day or so long at this point. Although if Quistis were to guess Kiros would find a better way to run things, or maybe he would run things the same way but operate more efficiently, it was no secret that Kiros and Ward's advisory for Laguna played a most major part in running Esthar.

"As well as we are making due I hope that we aren't without our leaders for much longer," Kiros nodded but did not continue on the subject. Quistis' tone meant that she felt she needed to be strongly quiet about the situation, and in other times in the past Kiros had found himself feeling the same way.

They were planning on discussing matters between B-Garden and Esthar. Normally there were others to speak as well but this was not meant to be a big meeting, it was just a discussion. Xu was meant to be there but between her two major duties she hardly even had the time to screw Nida, which she had always found the time to do –Quistis absently wondered if this would affect their flight when they were in the air again.

This left Quistis to meet in Xu's place as B-Gardens second in command –having before been under the unofficial title 'Third in Command.' In truth Quistis was just as good at this as Xu would be, the reason Xu was in command was only her leadership abilities –which Quistis would still remark sarcastically she once lacked. In fact Quistis was better because she would not always keep her hands full as Xu did, even if she were not the Headmistress she would probably be keeping herself busy so that she would still not be able to meet with Kiros. Quistis supposed that it would have been her no matter what, for Squall, if he were still here would no doubt order her do it for him.

Quistis actually thought that Xu could have plenty of time for Kiros if she wanted to, she was just intimidated by the man for some reason.

"I wanted to discuss missions with you," said Kiros and he took a bite of a wafer from the small drink and snack table in between their large chairs.

"Like what? Protocol, clients?" she waved her hand around to indicate his vagueness, he took that with a smile of course.

"One mission actually," he paused after swallowing, sipped his drink. "We're afraid that you didn't investigate things thoroughly enough before you sent your men and woman on the mission," he said this carefully, very evenly so that the message would not rile her. Kiros knew that Quistis was a stable woman but regardless he was a man who made a policy of not causing unnecessary alarm or indicating too much danger.

"Which mission exactly?" asked Quistis a bit apprehensively, whilst she ran through her head every single mission they had dispatched in the last few weeks.

"The mission to the Ostentat's," he began like a patient parent explaining the dangers of the stove. "We think that you went into that mission without looking up on current events."

"What are you trying to say Kiros?" Her voice had an edge to it like the edge on her whip. She liked Kiros and did not want to get course with him but he was beating around the bush a bit too much, much more than necessary, "just spit it out"

"For the past year and a half the Ostentat family has been practically running Galbadia. Even their current President knows this." It would go unspoken between them about the significance that Rinoa's father was allowing themselves power over him and how very suspicious that was.

Quistis instantly thought of Savior, and then of Grave… then of Joselyn, then she forgot about the fourth member of the squad. "So we sent our people directly to the enemy?"

"Yes," Kiros said calmly then allowed her to speak without interruption.

Instead of panicking, instead of crying and begging for Kiros to tell her that she was dreaming or that he was only telling her a sick joke Quistis slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and hit quick dial to speak with Xu immediately.

"Xu," she stated in a voice as clear as their wafers were bland. "Can we make contact with Abgestossen's team?" It would have been strange for Kiros to hear Quistis bypass niceties over the phone for she rarely missed one, but now she was doing something very familiar to him, he had been that way about finding Laguna for nearly a whole twenty four hours now.

"Oh," Quistis' eyebrows softened en though she hadn't noticed them harden. "Good, thank you Xu," she added quietly, Kiros was not meant to hear that but he did anyway, Quistis was too relieved to care really.

Absently she hoped that Kiros would not be suspicious that Xu could do that little task for Quistis but not show up for a one on one meeting about one mission.

Quistis put the phone away and looked up to Kiros with a smile having been relieved of her tension only moments after going tense. "That team established contact with us not long ago. They will be arriving home today."

Kiros looked unusually relieved despite having no relationship with any member of the squad "Wonderful, we understand they are valuable to you."

"Two of them are very valuable to me," _and the other two are valuable by extension I suppose, _she added only to herself.

"Well that makes things much easier," Kiros said with a smile and he stood up from his chair. He walked then to a table and Quistis could not help but glance at Kiros' figure, he always wore such a tight outfit when not in his Estharian robes. He made for fine eye candy even for somebody taken, or pseudo-taken as she was…

…also it was quite a plus that his face was exposed. Quistis gave many points for that.

A relationship with Kiros was one of the last things on Quistis' mind really; right now she was just enjoying looking at his butt, nothing wrong with an innocent glance or six at a swarthy mans butt she thought to herself and smiled inwardly. She was reminded then of Savior in his stealth outfit, she really loved that thing, it was really a pity that it also came with a mask…

Kiros came back carrying two things, a Galbadian newspaper, and the other item Quistis identified as 'The Jizzler' which was a joke newspaper from Galbadia. What on Gaia was Kiros doing with a joke page? She understood keeping up with current events in the enemy country, but what was the point in looking at their absurdities?

"I know what you're thinking," he said seemingly reading her mind as he dropped the papers on her side of the table which was sparse of the refreshments. "I must be nuts for showing you The Jizzler."

Quistis stared at the front page of said Jizzler for a moment before she answered Kiros. The Jizzler liked to focus on gratuitous, raunchy sex humor; their monthly covers alone always conveyed that message to the public. Better to be honest thought Quistis a bit apprehensively. She was not fond at all of the magazine, so she didn't want to admit to herself anything about it, even to herself.

This month's cover sported a cow in a maid outfit with a feather duster in its mouth. Normally the cover of this magazine was much more graphic; this one was merely suggestive, with the two fat Galbadian farmers eyeing the backside of the cow with bulging intoxicated orbs.

More importantly the lower left hand corner depicted other features of the issue. The most eye-catching was of course the badly taken picture of Cornucopia Ostentat, the woman whom Joselyn and Company was meant to protect.

"Actually Kiros, I don't think you'd show this to me because you think it's funny. What do you want to tell me?" Kiros smiled gratefully and picked up the Jizzler first. Quistis was secretly relieved; the real newspaper might dispel whatever the Jizzler would have in store for her.

Kiros began to recite from the one desired article. "'Cornucopia Ostentat, Daughter and heir to the Ostentat inheritance is rumored to have quite an active night life, much of her time spent at the Galbadian military quarters. After hearing what the troops have to say about Miss Ostentat, she has effectively become our icon here at 'The Jizzler,' Miss Ostentat, we salute you.' Continued on page 54." Kiros set down the abhorred newspaper then picked up the more respectable one.

"I'd like to skip most of this column and get right to the point of it," Kiros said then he looked back to the newspaper and began to recite it.

"-the article in the recent issue of 'The Jizzler' which has brought much outrage to Devon Ostentat (Father of Cornucopia Ostentat) and other related political figures. When asked about the accusation they have all denied it, declaring that if more such lies come from the popular joke paper they will sue it into the water."

"When we (The Galbadian Times) confronted Miss Ostentat herself she did not deny it, she was silent but many reporters claim they have seen her smile. Our reporters have also interviewed many of the Galbadian soldiers whom Ostentat has been said to have her relations with they did not deny it. In fact many whom seemed unafraid of their political leaders claimed that the claims were true. The details given to our reporters were too graphic for print" Kiros decided that it said it all and he set the newspaper to one side of his large chair with the joke paper.

Quistis waited for Kiros to say something else but Kiros would not speak. She waited for him be he only looked at her expectantly, as if he thought she would have something to say about it. As if this matter was important somehow.

"What exactly do you think you've found Kiros?" Quistis said as patiently as she could.

"Don't you think that this is at all suspicious Quistis?" he asked seemingly losing the hope that she understood what all of this meant.

"I'm afraid I don't see any importance about this woman's love life Kiros."

That was when Kiros looked disappointed. Quistis was fast becoming aggravated by this conversation, Kiros would need to make this conversation two sided soon or else she would need to make an excuse to get back to B-Garden.

"You should talk to Rinoa about this, it might be better for you to discuss it with her anyway."

Quistis furrowed her brows and did not leave at once. She took her first and last drink of the soft fluid for the evening then she stood. She put her hands together and bowed in the Estharian way to Kiros who did not stand but he did mirror the etiquette.

"Right, I will see you later Kiros, perhaps one more time before B-Garden lifts off again, we need to search for Squall." Kiros nodded.

"Yes, we must look for Laguna sometime ourselves, I'm sure something will come up before you have to leave," Quistis nodded to him then she turned her heel and left Kiros alone in the study.

Quistis was less concerned about the discussion she would have to have with Rinoa later then she thought. Despite Kiros' careful cryptic ness and worry about the newspaper column she couldn't imagine it being important.

The halls would be uncharacteristically empty as Quistis made her way out of the presidential palace that evening. She would think of Savior and Grave, and that night she would speak with Rinoa and learn the possible significance of Miss Ostentat's alleged escapades.

_**EG**_

"You can't be serious," Rinoa exclaimed and she looked up from her desk, suddenly thinking the case of the boy with a fork in his foot was not so important.

Quistis stared hard and Rinoa and resisted the urge to cluck her tongue to show Rinoa her impatience. After she spoke with Kiros she was hoping that Rinoa would simply shed light on matters, and now she was only doing this, Quistis was beginning to be annoyed by her feeling of being left out.

"What does it mean Rinoa?" she exclaimed desperately and Rinoa raised her eyebrows, being alarmed that Quistis was out bursting thusly. "Kiros wouldn't tell me anything, he just read from the papers."

"Oh," said Rinoa finally clarified to Quistis's trouble and she looked back to her computers screen as if things just became less important. "Well I personally don't think that there's a problem. I think that I know what he's worried about though –sit down," she gestured the chair always placed in front of the Infirmary desk.

Quistis sat and crossed her legs, relaxing a bit for knowledge that she'd finally know what Kiros wouldn't tell her himself.

Rinoa smiled and looked a bit embarrassed as she finished her report and turned the monitor the other way, it was a flat screen atop some pedestal and could pivot in three hundred and sixty degrees. "I was kind of embarrassed when I found out about this. I remember when Squall and I decided he would be my knight three years ago, but he wasn't then, not really." Rinoa looked ready to laugh and so Quistis smiled knowing that she would soon be in on a joke about her close friends.

"You see a Sorceress Knight isn't officially that until he and the sorceress," she gestured with her hands a bit as if she wasn't sure how she wanted to put it. "Have sex," was what she landed on.

Quistis couldn't help but laugh once she got what Rinoa was saying about her and Squall. They hadn't slept together for the first time until the ordeal with Ultimecia was over. To think that they didn't know he wasn't really her Knight yet. They're thinking that seemed quite virginally ignorant somehow even though it was completely reasonable.

"Yeah," she said and smiled almost bitterly, some part of her must have been annoyed that Quistis found it funnier than she or Squall did. "Anyway, I was reading about past Sorceress's once when I was learning how to control my power. And it's very interesting how that has worked."

"It was not discovered until after a very long time that a Sorceress could have more than one Knight. Or that a Sorceress could have a woman Knight. But one Sorceress discovered both of these things. For ages monogamy was a very important thing to a sorceress, but this one was well, a slut," Rinoa smiled involuntarily and Quistis joined her, now she was fascinated and she wished that Kiros had simply told her about it, although she did admit that with Kiros it might not be as entertaining.

"Most Sorceresses even after it was discovered had a monogamous policy. They argued that tradition was strictly important and that it was only traditional to have one Knight. This sorceress really didn't care about that, and she soon discovered that the amount of Knights that a sorceress can have is unlimited," Rinoa put very much emphasis on that last word and Quistis thought that she could appreciate the full gravity of it.

"Because of the Sorceresses popular policy to have one Knight another Sorceress like that never emerged again, after she was vanquished her remaining Knights lost their devotion for her, since most of that devotion would have been purely magical," she said the last part offhandedly but it caught Quistis' attention very much.

"You mean that Sorceresses _make_themselves appealing to their Knights, they don't just earn it?" Rinoa looked at her almost apprehensively but she decided that Quistis couldn't possibly think ill of her about it.

"It's a spell that a sorceress can use during the sex. It makes the Knight more like a slave really…" she stared at Quistis rather hard to match the other woman and determined that she knew what was on her mind. "I didn't do it to Squall Quistis, I wouldn't have even if I knew that spell."

"I believe you," Quistis said instantly, but not so quick that she would sound like a liar.

"Anyway, I think that Kiros is just concerned that this Ostentat chick is a sorceress, and since she's Galbadian that would mean trouble for us. A whole army of Knights would be a big problem," she looked up at nothing for a moment when she considered something. "Especially when you consider the telepathic power, it would be like the perfect radio transmitter."

That was very worrisome. A sorceress would make too powerful of a general if she could command any one of her soldiers from anywhere on the planet. An omnipotent general… Quistis tried to not shudder; she hoped very much that Kiros's guess was wrong. Even after such a grand supply check like the one they were doing now they would be hard pressed to oppose an army like that.

"But I'm sure that's not it. Those papers are probably just lying and trying to entertain like they always do," Rinoa waved her hands as if to brush the very notion of all of this away and she spun the monitor back to her direction.

Quistis didn't think she would be able to forget about this for a while herself. She suddenly felt her kinship with Kiros rekindling for she was now as concerned as Kiros had looked. It was true what Rinoa said that it was unlikely; sorceresses were hard to come by these days after all. But this kind of activity couldn't mean anything else that Quistis could think of. She would need to discuss this with Kiros again soon, and Abgestossen's team of course once they came back.

And to think that only fifteen minutes ago her primary concern was to get Savior to show her more skin after he got back. It was indeed funny how things were working out these days.

As if cued by her thought her cell phone vibrated in its pocket and Quistis' heart lifted enough to lift her smile. She already knew who it was but she couldn't help but check. She slipped the phone out of its black pocket and checked the screen, and as she expected she saw the name she wanted to see.

"Abgestossen's team has docked, I need to greet them. Thanks for telling me all of this Rinoa." Rinoa only looked up from the screen and nodded Quistis' welcome before Quistis spun out of the Infirmary and almost allowed her self to break into a run.

_**EG**_

Joselyn wished that Grave would look her way. Always if she stared at him long enough he would look her way. Once he let it slip that she had a very piercing stare, that it was in fact lop-sided so it was easier to notice because it was distinctive. Joselyn wanted to think he was making this up because it sounded so abstract and impossible to notice but he sounded so convictive when he told her.

During the entire flight back to B-Garden Grave refused to look her way. He would not look her way when Cody and Savior managed to get them out of Lich's pit, he would not look her way when they were on their way to the Whelp so that they could wait for Cody and Savior to drop Miss Ostentat back to her mansion, he would not look her way when they waited together for a half hour inside the Whelp. Neither of them said anything when Zell tried to cheer both of them up.

Although she had a ray of hope then, because she thought she heard him chuckle when Zell yelped and leapt back into the cockpit after seeing him.

It irked Joselyn because of this, the way the seating area inside the Whelps was arranged. It was not set up so that you were facing one another; it was set up so that you were facing the wall space beside one another. She was next to him, because even Cody was afraid to sit next to his friend in this state. Nonetheless, she knew that his neck wasn't changed; he was perfectly capable of turning it to face her.

Joselyn did not mean to sound arrogant –although she was anyway- but she, after a few weeks after their change in living arrangements Joselyn began to consider herself an expert on the subject of Grave. She had learned some amount of his mannerisms, she could fully appreciate his cooking which he appreciated himself, and she understood his human nature and could let herself get side tracked by his exotic beauty.

Both of his transformations were totally new to her. His body's change was of course a shock but that shock had subsided. The qualities of Grave that would permanently alarm and frighten others were temporary for her. Now she could look at his eyes and his grin like it was just a mask he was wearing and couldn't take off just yet. Now she could look at his tail coiled like a zombie of a snake at his feet because there was no room behind him for it.

Now she was concerned about the change in his attitude. She had seen him brood, and she knew how apprehensive he was about anybody looking closely at his eyes, even her, particularly her. But now he was pretending to be a frightening statue. After he saw the look on Cody's face –and she assumed that he had imagined a look on Saviors face- he must have felt betrayed because he was not speaking with him either. Joselyn wished that he would at least feel spiteful to her but allow Cody to speak with him, Cody had also softened to Graves new shape, and if Grave would give them a chance now then they surely wouldn't flinch too much to speak.

Joselyn didn't want to try talking to him until they were alone. She felt that the things that she was going to speak with him about were not the sort of thing that she would share with Cody. These were matters of the hearts, hers and Graves. Cody as he sometimes did did not come into this picture.

She really didn't care that this happened to him. And although nobody would believe her –even she had trouble believing herself about this- she thought that if he couldn't change back Hyne forbid, she would still want him.

Surely the women of B-Garden who she sometimes spoke with would consider her insane, or would just think that she was lying to herself to make herself feel noble. Surely Grave would be the one most alarmed by that and would have the hardest time believing it. But Joselyn told herself that it was true, she believed herself.

The sounds around the Whelp changed to the sounds of pressure in a chamber and they knew they were home. The Whelp passed through B-Garden's docking gates and landed quickly, Grave was still as stone.

The hatch opened up, Cody and Savior wasted no time in un-strapping themselves and standing. Savior left at once but Cody lingered behind. He stared at Grave and waited for Grave to stare back, Joselyn took the time to watch Cody instead of Grave for she was sure that Grave was not going anywhere quite yet.

Cody looked rather desperate and Joselyn felt for him. He must have thought like her that they only reacted the way that anybody else would, but unlike anybody else they would not abandon him and they would get used to the change.

Ultimately Cody said nothing and Joselyn was grateful for that. Grave would no doubt snap out a sharp comment to make Cody leave faster and that would make things harder for her. He just shook his head a little bit at Graves attitude then he left the hatch to retrieve his luggage and to leave to his room.

Now they were alone. Joselyn was surprised to feel that the tension in the Whelp had developed even more, she was hoping that with Cody and Savior gone that Grave would cool off a bit, maybe even talk, but he was no different after Cody was gone.

"Aren't you going to leave?" Grave said still sounding normal, lining the inside of her heart with hope.

"I wanted to leave with you," she said as strongly as she could, although she feared that it made no difference, that it would make no difference if she sounded frightened like the WeeD she her self had slain on their mission.

"I'll bet," he spat out snarlingly.

"Grave I don't think you can do anything to scare me anymore," she stated boldly, and rather angrily, particularly when she said his name.

Now Grave finally did look at her. She was to his left so the eye he stared into her with was the squinted one. The eye whose socket had had narrowed to the shape of a long almond. He was trying to suggest to her that he could _do_ a multitude of awful things to scare anybody.

What she should have said was that he wouldn't do anything to her to scare her, or harm her; that she didn't need him to tell her that.

Instead of speaking again Joselyn un-did her restraint and stood up, she needed to slouch a bit in order to not bump her head –even Grave needed to do that for the ceiling's in the Whelps gave little space for one's head- so she felt just a bit less intense when she wasn't standing up straight, swaying her ass from side to side for him, but she managed.

Joselyn kneeled in front of Grave; she dared to set her knees on his tail. She thought that if he could make a different face right now he would look unsure and possibly angry for reminding him of this new thing by touching it.

Joselyn did not feel afraid of it as she thought she would. The skin was soft beneath her knees and when she stroked it experimentally with one hand it proved to be as smooth as his cheek, which she had touched once in his sleep. The black veins felt firm beneath his flesh, when she pressed against the black matter it stirred a bit but apparently one needed to penetrate Graves skin for their deadly defense mechanism to activate. Joselyn hoped that Grave was worried when she touched his tail.

Joselyn looked into Graves face and placed her hands on either side of his face. Due to his transformation she was touching mostly tooth matter, but she couldn't feel bad about that, as much as she would prefer to feel his skin. Joselyn, ever so slowly moved her face to Graves, she did not stop when he closed his eyes and bowed his head, and she kissed the spot between his large eyes.

There was still blood all over him; down his chin and throat and his chest and stomach. It had begun to create a smell that wasn't quite terrible, but noticeable. His breath however was worse, the blood in his mouth that he didn't swallow or spit out before was remaining wet whilst it rotten in his mouth. Normally she or anybody else might have thought it was disgusting but Joselyn made herself appreciate the faint pleasure amongst the decadence.

Her hands stayed on his face, his head moved down and his eyes were closed.

"I'm fucking terrifying, even my best friend doesn't want to be around me," he was confessing now, he was allowing himself to be the human he didn't think he was, more hope yet there was for Joselyn.

"I think you're fucking beautiful, and no amount of fear will take me away from you."

Graves head was up and his eyes snapped open at once. Joselyn would have moved her head back but it seemed it was true that Grave couldn't scare her anymore. It was dark in there but in the moment he opened his eyes nothing could have moved her any distance away from him, she would finally see his eyes properly.

He did not blink; perhaps he didn't need to blink in this form, "don't close your eyes," she commanded, and he did not. Perhaps that kiss on his head had softened this demon that was Grave.

She did not make out the symbols at once but once she did it was remarkable how she recognized them, it was remarkable really what they were. The size of his pupils had not changed with his eyes, they remained small by comparison. The left pupil, the one in the perfectly round bulbous eye, was the shape of a pair of folded wings, precisely like the symbol on the back of Dr. Heartily's blue garment which she rarely wore. This was why…

The right eye, the almond eye, was a more amazing shape. It was the head of a lion, it was the symbol of Balamb Garden, it was around their vanished Headmasters neck, and it was on the watches that nobody wore, it was also in the center of Graves eye…

This was why… it made sense to her now. Surely even Grave understood the significance of this, and had been kept awake at nights wondering if it meant anything, or if it was simply the icon of strangeness.

"Wow," she mouthed and barely breathed. Those large eyelids fluttered rapidly and briefly when her breath touched his face, and she felt her heart beat a touch differently.

"You don't know what this means?" she inquired thinking that she already knew that he didn't. He shook his head.

They were silent again for a while, and Joselyn felt a certain amount of satisfaction for knowing finally what he was keeping from her for these weeks that they've known each other. And it was even greater to know that he was hiding something rather profound. She would think about this almost as much as he would now, with those symbols in her minds eye now.

"You think I'm beautiful?" he asked quietly, not insulted that she didn't say handsome instead, but worried that she was only saying it and not meaning it, that she was only a liar to him.

"Yeah," she smiled as she spoke because she wanted to and because she couldn't help it.

"… I think you're heavenly," he said like he wasn't sure if he was getting ahead of himself but taking the risk anyway.

Despite the teeth spoken through Joselyn felt her heart beat yet harder and she could swear that her breasts jiggled. She took a deep breath and imagined how aroused he might be by hearing her breathing so closely.

_Wow,_ she thought, _I can change this mans mood effortlessly, damn I'm good_.

Arrogance aside, Joselyn found herself frustrated in that moment. It was the perfect time to kiss him, but his lips were stretched so far apart over his overly long teeth that it was impossible as he was. She knew that they would need to put this moment on hold until Grave was changed back –she was sure he would be normal again at this point, it was only the severity of his change that was making things take so long she was sure.

But right now just seemed _right_, but she knew that a kiss would be impossible. She was so unsure of what to do, so stalling was in store. Seeing as how the hatch was not yet closed she thought she still had time. She thought she was hearing talk outside and one of the voices might have been Quistis which would have urged her. But Grave seemed oblivious to the outside world right now, although Quistis' presence might be enough to take him away.

No it wouldn't, she remembered that he wouldn't leave yet, he probably wanted a clear path to his room. Even Quistis wouldn't behave like her self as Grave was now, certainly Grave would believe that. Joselyn smiled broadly and secretly, she still had some time inside the Whelp.

A way to stall time came to her at once, and she was surprised at her self that she hadn't thought of it before.

"That other person you were talking to Cornucopia about was me right?"

If Grave had more control of his face she was sure that he would have smiled sweetly because what was left of his cheeks elevated then.

"Of course," he said in a way that would make the average girl shiver without delight. Am I developing a weird fetish? She asked herself.

"Good," she paused again for a while and licked her lips. "I really want to do something to you right now but I can't. I think I should give you some more proof that I don't care about this," she stroked his tail again to emphasize her point.

Without speaking up at all Grave thought of a way. He adjusted his tail and slithered it away from her. Her knees hit the metal floor but neither of them noticed; Joselyn was too eager, Grave too occupied by being the dominant one.

Grave pressed the button on his restraints and they slid instantly away from him. He moved forward just a bit upon being released and being only slightly closer made this several times more intense.

Grave moved his tail like a snake and coiled it around Joselyn's waist. He tightened it

just enough to feel her breathing against his tail. Once much of his tail was around her he

hefted her breasts just a bit through her shirt, not nearly enough to tease her but enough to

give them a thrill.

Joselyn was breathing deeper now but she was anything but afraid. In fact, she was anticipatory; she wanted him to keep going. It occurred to him to put the tail inside her somewhere but they had not yet kissed properly -not the time to go so far. Instead he expanded and contracted his hold on her and reveled in the distant feeling of her stroking his tail as he held her with it.

Joselyn was struck with inspiration after he hefted her breasts for the third time, that time contemplating taking the end of his tail to squeeze her with.

"Open your mouth," she said breathlessly, but not for the constriction.

He opened his teeth obediently and it opened much the way the jaws of B-Garden's docking doors opened. His jagged teeth were now more far apart than she thought they could be. His breath was hot and reeked of six-year-old-girl but Joselyn was too excited to finally have him to care.

Granted she didn't quite have him because of this, but she now knew for sure what he wanted. But she wanted to give him something…

"Show me your tongue," she said huskily, she had forgotten about the possibility of people outside of the Whelp, had she been thinking of them she would be wondering why they weren't interrupting them.

Grave's tongue came from his mouth in the same manner as his tail had slid over her body. It came out much longer than was normal, she had not expected his tongue to change as well, and she had not noticed it change back in Galbadia. Joselyn couldn't help but say it.

"Ooh, your tongue gets longer."

Grave might have grinned more if he could have.

Joselyn couldn't kiss him like she wanted to yet, but she could do this, and it was apparently easier to do this now than she had expected. She was a bit worried that she would be facing cuts on her lips for this but that worry was now gone.

Joselyn moved her face even closer to Graves and she placed her lips around the end of Graves tongue. She sucked it inside her mouth and licked it without moving her lips open so much as a crack. Soon she opened her mouth and licked more of his tongue to collect two more inches of it into her mouth. Grave moaned an animal's moan and she smiled when she sucked on the wad of tongue in her mouth.

They lost track of time and eventually Joselyn slipped her lips across his tongue and he took it back into the gates of his teeth. They looked happily at one another's eyes for a moment, and Joselyn imagined Grave with his normal face, mirroring the smile she was giving him now.

It was easily one of the weirdest moments of her entire life. But she was sure that only one thing could make her happier. Several proper kisses, the first one the longest. And the other part of him in her which she feared had changed as well, perhaps with barbs or something else she was hard pressed to be aroused by.

One of the happiest moments of their respective lives, it was typical that it would not last much longer.

Grave proved that he could make a face when their bizarrely romantic moment was ruined. If they were normal then Grave would only clutch his stomach, she would look concerned, then they would proceed to give him some substance to treat his pained organ and she would prepare the food for once. But they weren't normal, they could never hope for that even if they would have wanted things to be that way.

Graves belly literally caved inward, it was so much it was obvious that he was not sucking in his gut on purpose. It was like he deflated, it collapsed inward the way a plastic bag is when all of the air is sucked out. His tail came away from her and slipped to the wall, she suddenly felt cold, and for whatever reason that was beyond her she wanted it around her again.

Grave put his hands on his stomach, looking strained like he couldn't release something. "Get out," he hissed painfully but Joselyn wouldn't budge, "Go!" he yelled directly in to her face his teeth still long and sharp more like a bear trap than an actual mouth.

Graves tail left the wall and slammed against the one opposite them. His neck jerked back involuntarily and his stomach inflated again but he screamed like he would have rather kept it the way it was before. Against instincts that felt new to her Joselyn jumped and rolled out of the Whelp. Grave screamed again and the sound of peeling metal could be heard in the hangar of Balamb Garden.

_**EG**_

… A few minutes earlier…

"Is that a horse in the hallway?" Cody asked Savior. The sound of heavy clopping could be heard from the hallway on the other side of the Whelp. They were currently pulling their baggage from the compartment on one side of the Whelp. They left it open for Grave and Joselyn when they decided to come out.

"No," answered Savior as plainly as possible. "It's just Quistis and her big honking boots," Cody laughed out loud and that not knowing how much another person would be struck for mocking Quistis, even if they were laughing at his own mockery. Really Savior wasn't sure if mocking Quistis was okay considering his grand desire to fuck her. And the fact that Quistis was not fond of being mocked, so by doing it he was as good as retreating from her invitations.

Their bags were over their shoulders when Quistis was around the front side of the Whelp and standing before them. Cody was smiling more than he should have been and she noticed that, then she looked to Savior curiously. She would no doubt get him to admit his mockery of her during or before their next night of love play.

He would have tried to look innocent except she wouldn't notice, so he simply allowed himself to wear the guiltiest look that he could wear for sake of honesty behind secrecy.

"I heard you were working for the enemy today, I'm glad to see you're all right," Quistis said with more chipper than she actually felt on purpose. Savior stole a quick glance at Cody and was surprised to see how shortly his smile fell when Quistis said that. Savior himself did a double take and made quite the face beneath his mask.

"We were with the enemy?" he said elevating his volume, the only thing he really could do to sound different.

"Kiros just told me that the Ostentat's have practically been running Galbadia for some time now. As disconnected as Squall kept us we obviously were kept oblivious." Quistis almost sounded like she was blaming Squall rather unpleasantly, but that sounded impossible to Savior so he shoved the notion aside.

Cody would have spoken but Quistis continued. "How are Grave and Joselyn, they're still in the Whelp?" Even Cody went rigid when she asked about Grave. Each of them knew that Grave and Quistis were somewhat close and so she would inevitably ask them about him, but they hoped together that she wouldn't ask about him so soon.

"Grave isn't hurt but he's sort of in a… sensitive condition," Cody said smoothly, not sounding terribly stupid when he paused to think of an adequate way to put it.

Quistis's brows knit then, she was as concerned as they expected but for some reason she didn't look surprised. Then it struck Savior that Quistis knew more about Grave then they did. Cody was suspicious too.

"He's changed again hasn't he?" Cody couldn't help but be surprised and even Savior nearly fell back a bit.

"You knew about that?" for the first time that Quistis and Savior had ever heard, Cody sounded upset.

"Yes," she answered looking directly at him and managing to keep him under the impression of her authority. "He asked me to analyze him a while ago, that change is his Special Skill," she paused again and tried to judge his reaction and she must have thought he looked about to overreact because she continued. "I know it's kind of startling but he doesn't change very much."

"Doesn't change very much?" Cody nearly shouted "I'll venture to bet that his brain is the same but that's about it!" Cody turned around abruptly and neared the still open hatch for the interior of the Whelp, Grave and Joselyn had not yet left.

"Why the hell didn't he tell me?" he muttered under his breath. Cody was just about to turn into the Whelp when they heard the sound.

Graves scream had all of the attention of the trio outside of the Whelp. It was an incredible sound, not at all inhuman as they might have expected. He was not sounding like a monster or a special effect in a movie, only the volume seemed impossible for a human.

It stopped so abruptly that instead of being relieved they were on their toes to hear another one. Like vomiting; he would scream once then stop abruptly, then perhaps he would repeat that seven or more times. Cody was stopped, his determination to get something out of Grave held on hold for the time being. In the back of his mind he thought that he would talk to him about it later, but right now things were too urgent to interrupt. It would be like asking them for money whilst they fucked.

Another scream tore from the end of the Whelp and as soon as it started Joselyn leapt from it and rolled on the floor like she was escaping the enemy. Normally part of the procedure for that roll would be casting a spell of drawing your weapon as you stood again. But she was only escaping from Grave; he had no intention of hurting her and probably wouldn't even leave the Whelp.

_**EG**_

Joselyn stood up and took a brief glance from Cody; he looked so different from before that she would never have guessed that he was angry for once. Had she known she had missed that a part of her would have been mildly disappointed.

For once though, Cody seemed completely unimportant, she looked to him to see if he was harmed at all even though nothing had actually happened to anybody but Grave. It was a reflex really, when the bad things happen near your friends you tend to check on them whether you know something has happened to them or not.

Now she watched Grave from outside of the Whelp. The hatch was still open and although it was dark she could see him and his motions clearly. Despite the fact that he was no longer in his restraints she thought he may as well have been. He was not daring to move further than the seating area; he was probably concerned that his flailing would hurt her or the others outside.

Grave punched the walls and swung his tail every which way, expertly as if he'd had it all of his life…

Perhaps expertly was not quite the right word, _effectively_ was more like it. The strong material inside the Whelp was denting, and even cracking from the pressure on the outside under the force of his hands and the new appendage. Eventually all four of the seats were crushed into uselessness, at some point his tail managed to break through to the back of the cockpit. That was when Zell jumped out; he hardly gave the window time to open up like a switch blade the way they always did.

"Hey what the hell is happening in there!?" Joselyn was even more annoyed by Zell at the moment. She realized that the Whelps were his and Raijin's pride and joy but she needed to watch Grave suffer right now, she couldn't care about his bitching right now.

Joselyn was grateful to Quistis against her will when she stopped Zell and made him shut up. She would never be sure how she managed that because she could pay no attention away from Grave. Later she would wish she had paid attention to Quistis' method of silencing Zell so that she might have taken notes.

For a moment Joselyn considered that but a sound of the turquoise glass like metal shatter and clatter on the side of the aircraft opposite the other humans in the hangar. Grave was holding his head; his tail was grinding against the inside of the Whelp, encouraging the plating on the outside to fall away like melting ice from a sheet of cellophane. Had she not known Graves condition at all she would think that he was faking his distress and relishing in the destruction of the aircraft –the latter of which he may have been enjoying anyway- because his grin was still intact.

They stood by as Grave wailed and destroyed the ship from the inside out. With the feeling of fists in their guts, knowing for sure that he would not come out and harm them, yet not entirely believing it. Quistis feared he would be spiteful for not being with him lately, Savior didn't know him at all, Cody felt somehow disconnected from him and Zell… Zell was under the impression –unconfirmed of course- that Grave was not fond of him for whatever reason.

Joselyn felt different though. She felt the tension in her belly but she looked on at what the others didn't dare watch without fear that he would harm her or the others. She only saw him suffering, and it hurt her that she couldn't do anything about it, even though she always thought that she was uniquely the one to help him with this.

Another smash was heard and the other humans dispersed their side of the Whelp as shards of turquoise matter clattered against the metal floor and shattered further. The shards were given time to make the sounds of glass dancing to die, to crack and splinter, Grave did nothing, then there was a resounding plop.

Joselyn watched him fall and to her shame she did not begin to run to him until she had already watched him smack his face against the dented floor. She reasoned in the back of her mind that she wouldn't have made it to him in time to catch him but she felt ashamed of herself nonetheless.

Joselyn did not notice the other four looking at her like she was dashing in to the jaws of a live snow lion. Which, by the way the Whelp had been dented it nearly looked like she was doing just that. A twisted, broken mis-colored replication of a snow lion perhaps, but the image was still there.

Joselyn wanted to slide against the floor to him because it seemed fast but the indentations would not allow it. She instead ran and nearly tripped over two of the holes in the floor and fell to her knees in front of him. She held her hands on either sides of his cheeks, and with equal delight and surprise, she felt his real, his actual _cheeks_. Without stealing a glance to his tail or his hands which she should have done, she tried to pull Grave up by his head. He assisted her a bit by pushing himself up on his hands and knees, his head was down, and his tail was flaccid.

She decided to ignore her compassion for just a moment for her impatience. She felt his cheeks, his actual cheeks but he didn't have the strength to lift his head. She slid her body to the floor, her stomach over half of an indentation and she peered under his hair to look at his face.

His mouth was normal again, and his eyes had changed shape but they were still large, not innocently but to Joselyn they seemed that way, but only right now. She also noticed the black veins currently receding into him like water against parched soil. She looked at his hands quickly then she looked between his legs at his tail to see the same effect.

Grave lost his strength and plopped down but this time she was with him to catch him. Kneeling, she pulled him into her lap. He adjusted his head on her shoulder and lay his back against her breasts. His breathing evened out again, he seemed conscious but he would not speak, Joselyn didn't ask him to. She wanted to rock back and forth a bit but she worried he would ache too much to be soothed by that. She sat still for him then, their breathing the only motion either of them engaged in.

"Is he all right?" she heard Cody ask from outside of the Whelp. Joselyn would have liked to answer him but for one thing she wasn't entirely sure if he was okay, he was changing back but it didn't seem at all pleasant. Also she thought that if she made a noise near Grave he would wince.

Hoping he would hear her she cocked her head as far back as she could without moving Grave and she said, "Mm hmm," she moved her head back to a comfortable position not really caring if Cody had heard her.

Grave moaned again but this time it was pleasant. Joselyn smiled then, and hoped that he wouldn't go into another fit so soon. Still having his large eyes and his tail she believed that he would have at least one more before the night was over.

Joselyn heard foot steps and instantly knew that it was Cody. She did not move, and did not speak to him because she did not want to disturb Grave. He rounded them and squatted in front of Grave whose eyes were closed and perhaps wasn't even aware that Cody was in front of him, that Joselyn was holding him.

Cody looked at Grave in a way that caught Joselyn off guard. He was scowling, which she had never seen him do before. She scowled her self without any real anger and didn't stop when he looked up to her. His scowl softened to nothing and he sighed resignedly. He didn't want her to think that he was permanently angry at their friend.

"I should stay with you."

"No, I can do this on my own, you and the adults can go," she looked at him meaningfully so that she wouldn't need to say out loud what she wanted. She wanted privacy with Grave; she wanted to escort him alone back to their dorm, the key word being alone.

"You're sure?" he pressed the way he shouldn't have and Joselyn did not relent.

"I'm the one who rooms with him; I can bring him there tonight if he's not up to walking. You go." Cody continued to look at her without blinking and eventually he stood, he nodded then he left the Whelp with his bag over his shoulder, and his issue with his friends temporarily resigned.

Joselyn heard Cody explain and persuade Quistis and Savior to leave the hangar because she could handle things. Zell still sounded very angry but Quistis was managing very well to keep him from yelling out right. She relaxed quite a lot when she heard the retreating footsteps of her friend and the four adults. _We're alone now_ she thought; _only one of us is conscious but we're alone._

Joselyn entertained the idea of doing things to him here, in the Whelp while he was not capable of moving. But that sounded quite a bit like rape and she was sure that Grave would complain to not be in on his own sexual escapades.

"This hurts so much without your help." His voice was remarkably faint but she heard him, his voice was the only sound in the hangar now. His quiet voice became a great whisper.

She smiled despite how very sad that sounded. It was a wonderful compliment, _he needs me._ Not just wanted her, she'd been sure of that for weeks. But he really _needed_ her; he needed her because of their unique chemistry with his changing and her ability to reverse that change. Although it didn't work this time, that's how the compliment came about, and morbidly she found herself appreciating this unfortunate event.

Joselyn was surprised he was awake. He didn't sound like he was sleep talking; sleep talking was perhaps something less articulate than that.

"I feel guilty about it but I'm actually glad to hear that," she whispered as quietly as she could but not so quiet that he wouldn't hear her.

He inhaled very deeply, "you're awful," he said sarcastically, and she needed to resist the urge to slap his arm.

They spoke only occasionally. Grave needed to take deep breaths each time and Joselyn found her self giggling at nearly everything he had to say. She would not budge and neither would he. At one point his hand would find one of her knees and he would rub it softly through the black denim.

Eventually Grave would finish his transformation but this time Joselyn would not leave him and he would not further damage the ship. She would hug him tightly from behind as his tail recedes back in to his spine, and she would stroke his hair and kiss his ears when his eyes shrank to their natural size.

**Covet**

Grave would not leave until he was strong enough to walk. Not necessarily on his own, but so that Joselyn wouldn't have to exert herself too much carrying him. It was late by the time he declared he could stand and breathe comfortably. Joselyn put her arm around his shoulder and the other against his chest which was supporting him nicely.

His chest did not hurt now, but her hand pressed against him so firmly did create in interesting sensation. It felt like pressing against stretched flesh trying so slowly to retract to normal. Were he to look at his reflection he would not look like he was in that condition, he looked as he did when not changed. He did not look stretched or damaged at all.

Grave said to Joselyn before they left that he was sure that he would feel better again soon. Maybe he would even feel better before he went to bed that night, he only said this at the rate that he was recovering, and he was probably right about his recovery. But Joselyn was concerned that he would be rather tired despite being okay because his reversal looked exhausting.

Joselyn didn't say anything about that however and they hobbled their way to their SeeD apartment. Grave didn't bother to put on the clothes that Cody had brought for him. He decided that nobody was going to see the enormous hole in his pants and that he would be wearing something else to bed anyway. "Perhaps a pair of boxers," he had tried to say conversationally but it went nowhere, so he just tried not to smile.

When they stopped in front of the door and Grave fumbled in his inner jacket pocket for their keycard –he was always the one to hold it, Joselyn was so sure she would lose it if she were responsible- Joselyn actually reached her hand in the large hole in his pants and grabbed his ass, hard.

It wasn't that he didn't want her to do it, but Grave was very alarmed to feel that. Ass muscles were interesting, how flaccid they could be despite being muscle made for an interesting sensation. It wasn't nearly the same as being grasped by the bicep, it was like grabbing a wad of flesh away from the bone, it felt very weird.

Grave looked out of the corner of his eye to see one of Joselyn's more devilish smiles. He laughed inwardly at that thought, people were so convinced that _he_ was demonic, but those people had never seen Joselyn smile.

Thinking about what Joselyn might be hinting to him about he had a particularly hard time sliding the key through the slot. He had to endure a certain amount of verbal torment about that, how he wasn't putting the thing in the opening correctly which only made him screw up more. Eventually, her desire to be in her home won over her desire to torment Grave, so she shut up, and shortly there after he opened the door and they hobbled inside.

When they first moved into their apartment they were alarmed at its size. It was no wonder the cadets were in 'dorms' and the SeeDs were in 'apartments' they originally thought little of the difference between those words but now they got it. A dorm was _a_ room. An apartment was a small living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.

Their living arrangements from the beginning had been that Joselyn would sleep in the bedroom and Grave would have the couch. He had only won that argument when he reasoned that their couch was his size and that only the bed was big enough for her tall Amazonian body.

They went directly to the couch and fell on it together. Joselyn was on top of Grave and both of them were positioned awkwardly on their sides. Normally this contortion was painful but Grave doubted he could feel more comfortable. Joselyn's long neck against his face, her left breast against his collarbone, her smell although not curatively necessary right now was very pleasant.

Joselyn was truly prepared to lay their all night, perhaps in that position even; she was very tired and felt perfectly comfortable despite how awkward they probably looked. He was warm and smooth, and he was firm and she knew that he wanted her.

But she was sure that, despite how eager they were they couldn't do it just yet. He had to have been exhausted after all of that torment.

Just to stall herself Joselyn took a deep breath and rubbed it into Grave's hair with her nose and her mouth. Then she forced herself to move away from the couch and stand up. It was dark; they hadn't decided to turn on the light when they came in thinking that they would be going to bed too soon for that to really matter. But they saw each other quite clearly, and she saw Grave looking very disappointed.

She didn't want to insult him by saying that she didn't think he'd be up to it. But quite frankly she didn't, and she thought that she was, so she would need to do it alone.

"I'm going to have a shower, I feel really gross," she smiled to him hoping that it would make him a bit less disappointed and she went into the bathroom and shut the door. Grave looked after her as she swayed her butt for him in a seemingly mocking way after saying what she had, but he did not give up, despite the energy he felt his hormones were giving him. He was suddenly under the impression that she simply didn't want to do it.

Inside the bathroom Joselyn was not removing her clothing with enthusiasm. Her trench coat fell first of course, and then came her boots then her outer garments and the undergarments. She entertained the idea of cracking the door and dangling her bra out the door but she wasn't sure if Grave would be able to see that much in the dark, or if he was even awake right then to see it.

She paused in front of the mirror and did to really look at her self. She was not even looking at the three braids beside her face although she was thinking about them distantly. She undid them quickly, and still paying no mind to the mirror she went in to their shower.

Joselyn adjusted the water taps so they would be predominantly hot, only rotating the cold water knob about an eighth of the way to the left. She pressed the button above the bathtub faucet which redirected the course of the water and the shower nozzle sprayed the not yet hot water all over her head.

It was annoying but she was no less aroused. She waited for the waters temperature to heat up then she stepped in and let the warm water wash away the cold. She felt the cold on her head dispelled quickly, and little droplets of cold water seemed to escape from her hair and travel down her torso in a vain attempt to save their non lives.

Once she was thoroughly wet and warm Joselyn opened the shampoo bottle and poured it directly on to her head. She did not take as good care to cleanse it as she normally would, it was true that after the mission she needed to clean herself but cleansing was not quite the reason she had gone to the shower.

Joselyn hasted to wash the soap from her hair. She washed the rest of her self as quickly as she could and slathered the conditioner in her hair half heartedly; she did not really care if all of it washed away. Her mind was elsewhere, in truth she was barely managing to scrub.

Once she was decidedly not rank Joselyn allowed her weight to fall against the wall of the shower and she slid down, the water still running down her body and between her legs, it washed away just a bit of the bodily moisture in her pussy developed when she was still with Grave in the Whelp, when he was so submissive under her embrace letting her kiss his ears and stroke his hair.

Grave was a strong man Joselyn knew, he was a man but she always thought –even before she became interested in him- that sexually he would be the submissive type. Of course his testosterone would always urge him to be on top but there was something about Grave that made her think he would want things done _to_ him. In the Whelp when he wrapped his tail around her and urged his tongue in to her mouth he was testing her, he wanted to know for sure that she didn't care about what he was. But surely he would want to simply lay back and allow her to do the work.

But perhaps that was only hope on her part. Joselyn was sexually dominant. She wasn't sure if it was a side effect of feminism or if that was simply the way her hormones raged but it was the way she was. She'd like to pick him up from that couch, just to throw him down to the floor, and then trap him there with only her hands on his wrists and making their parts kiss.

Once again Joselyn was reminded of a movie, just one scene, and one line in particular. As per usual the title of the movie failed her and so did the names of the characters -they were on the tip of her tongue but now she decided to let that go. It was about a woman agent trying to catch a man who would skin fat women, and she eventually caught him with the help of another criminal. He was an incarcerated psychiatrist and cannibal who had great interest in the agent.

During their last encounter together was when he spoke the line that she was thinking of, the line that was later repeated when the agent finally did figure out how to catch the man who skinned women. He asked her-

"How do we begin to covet?" Joselyn spoke quietly to her self, not trying to imitate the voice of the cannibal. The agent shot out automatic answers because she couldn't imagine what to say, she just wanted the cannibal to tell her the information so she could finally finish her case and he said-

"We covet what we see, everyday."

It had been weeks since Joselyn had brought her things to Graves dorm to take Cody's place, for Cody had taken her place with the unpleasant pervert Tucker. Even that first night she saw something in him that nobody else cared to acknowledge. He was a human, he was a man, he would respond to anything remotely sexual even if it were only her bangs falling away from her darker eye.

Joselyn knew they did not just see each other every day; they watched each other every day. He would watch her walk when he was behind her, he would watch her lips and her breasts when she breathed. And she watched his crotch when she would make it swell in his pants, she would watch his tongue when he would lick his utensils when he ate that wonderful food he cooked for her.

They knew each other now, now it was more than just adolescent hormones demanding they orgasm together. They really wanted each other, as if there were no other worthy options; nobody else would satisfy their sexual appetites because nobody else was nourishing enough.

Joselyn wasn't thinking about it when she closed her eyes and elevated her knees to the level of her forehead. She was not quite paying attention to reality when she slid one hand under the thin white curls of hair over her pussy. That thought of tossing Grave around and grinding their hips had her flung into the fantasy world like a heavy body floating to the bottom of warm water.

Joselyn could see herself on top of him, his loins were white where there was skin but the end was a deep dark purple like grape flavored syrup. She imagined the color as bold as it looked being filling all on its own. She was rubbing her soft liquid flesh against it and pressing hard but not allowing him entry. She saw him groaning and beating his head against the carpet, as if she were cutting at his stomach with a knife, but loving the mutilation.

Just as she was imagining him thrusting upward and arching his back like her teasing had become too much without a reward, just as she was about to push her fingers into herself she stopped. Her fantasy stopped.

It was like something falling from a high place and reminding us of the tangible with a resounding crash or slapping sound. She stopped, her fingers ready to plunge in knuckle deep, and her eyes opened up not of her own accord.

"This is madness," she whispered so quietly she thought she was only thinking the words. It was fascinating how it happened she thought. Here she was, in the shower, imagining being in the next room, with a man who was really in there, who was equally eager as she. But she was only imagining it, the real thing was only a minute away…

_Maybe he isn't too tired…_

Joselyn admitted that she herself was tired, but now, after that daydream, she felt exhilarated. Surely she thought, Grave was no different. If he really was as attracted to her as he let on then he would be ready and willing for what she wanted from him.

Joselyn stood up with new energy, something more than sexual excitement. She turned off the water forgetting about any amount of conditioner she may have had in her hair then she threw the shower curtain open and stepped out.

For some reason she was looking down as she stepped out, perhaps it was so she would look up to the mirror as she did that. The mirror was not so fogged because she had spent little more than three minutes in the shower. The mirror was clear, and in it she saw Grave.

Joselyn had apparently not closed the door all the way because it had swung open, Joselyn looked to the right side of the mirror to see Grave, and he was no doubt looking as closely as he could to the left to see her. He had removed his foul clothes; his jacket must have been hung up because it was nowhere in sight. He only wore a pair of white boxers with legs falling almost all the way down his thighs.

The hair on his body was sparse, she liked that, and even the hair on his legs was hard to make out despite being so black in contrast to his deathly skin. He was looking at the mirror, his mouth was open, just as she was admiring him he was admiring her -but with a touch more enthusiasm.

Grave saw Joselyn in all of her dripping glory. Her hair was straight now after days of only braiding one side around her face, that side now resembled steel ramen as the rest of it usually did. He could only see the florescent eye because the darker one was still covered, the hair stuck to her face with water and conditioner.

Droplets were dripping from her fingers and her nipples, one he counted from her nose. She had not thought to wring out her hair so there was a steady stream of water pouring onto the bath mat and soaking it.

They looked at each other and lost track of time, they had no idea how long they had been doing that, but Joselyn was still wet, it could not have been more than a minute or two. A bit distantly Joselyn noticed Graves erection through his boxers. She leveled her eyes that low and then slowly brought them back to his face, she wasn't sure if he noticed so far away.

"Stand up," she commanded softly and he raised himself from the couch and stood in front of it, now his erection was rather obvious.

Joselyn rounded the bit of wall between the door and the shower then she looked at the real him, the reverted Grave, normal as he could be, exotic and as aroused as her.

Joselyn took tentative steps in front of him but halfway to him she hurried herself. He did not take one step forward; he did not even reach to her. He was letting her come to him just the way she wanted him to; this fed her hope that she could be the dominant one.

Just as she was stopping before him Joselyn caught the carpet with one of her toenails and tripped. She fell forward but she did not fall far, Grave catches her just below her breasts, Joselyn clutches his shoulders and steady's herself.

It seemed very comical at the time but it was not enough excitement to ruin their mood. They only grinned at each other, perhaps this was something she would never let him forget, some little slip up to mock her with occasionally in a playful manner.

Really, she wanted him to remember a lot of things about tonight.

Looking at those violet lips of his Joselyn was reminded of something very important to her, and she knew that if she had gone through with tonight without remembering, she would have kicked herself.

In her previous relationships she remembered always being disappointed by her first kiss. Each one was a peck, perhaps one was a touch passionate but none of them seemed right.

A first kiss only happens once, for some reason it had always been more important to her than virginity. It somehow seemed more special. All this time she had wanted to lock her lips with Graves for as long as possible before the need to take a mouth full of air with him. She wanted her first kiss with him to be a strong memory, not a brief, impersonal one.

It seemed to her that they were far more interested in her pussy which she wanted, but her pussy was only one part of her. She wanted attention everywhere, her ass, her legs, her feet, her arms, her hands, her stomach, her shoulders, her breasts, her face, her hair everything. She didn't want to think that one part of her body was more important than any other part. She didn't want Grave to want her just for her pussy, she wanted a nice long first kiss before she pinned him to the floor.

_**L**_

Joselyn took one of Grave's hands still clutching her ribs and brought it to her breast. She pressed his palm and moved his fingers very firmly, and directed his thumb to her nipple and rotated it around the pink circle with her own digit.

Once he found the lump of nerves beneath her skin Joselyn slid her hand all the way up his arm and slid it around his shoulder, then she ran her fingers up the back of his neck and clutched the back of his head. She put her other hand on one cheek, holding his head in place she that he couldn't move it away too soon.

Joselyn leaned to Graves face, licked her lips -for her breathing had dried them up- and she forced their mouths together. Grave seemed surprised but he did absolutely nothing, just as she wanted. They stayed that way for a long time appreciating the velvety feeling of one another's lips. Occasionally Joselyn would be more insistent and push her face further against his, nearly disturbing his balance and having them fall back on the couch. But he was sturdy, simply taking it.

She easily slipped her tongue through his lips and met his teeth. Instead of pushing against them and insisting on entry she licked them. She felt a bit of muscle that might have been a string of the little girl's neck whose name she had already forgotten, she tasted whatever was left of that girl. She was not turned off; she decided that being with Grave would mean sometimes encountering strange things like this.

Very soon Grave opened his teeth and Joselyn felt his tongue. There was the taste of raw meat there still, and faintly she was reminded of pennies from the blood that he had not managed to spit out. Still, she was not cooled, she still wanted him, she did not want to stop kissing him yet.

For the first time Grave pushed his lips further into hers. Grave forcefully lunged his tongue against hers and then they were simply licking at one another's palates. Their lips were opening now but never coming completely apart, Grave licked with much attention at the tip of her tongue. Then, feeling finally satisfied in her heart and her brain with their first kiss Joselyn forced her tongue past his again, she licked the insides of his cheeks and the surfaces of his teeth, then she moved her lips away from his and licked his then hers before taking her breath.

Grave was panting now and so was she. He had stopped before with his attention her breast because she had distracted him with their first real kiss, he noticed quickly that she never wanted him to stop that and so he moved his other hand to the untouched breast and he kneaded them together to make up for his lack of attention.

Joselyn slipped her hands down the back of his boxers for the sole purpose of taking them off, but she decided to grab his ass quickly just because her hands were close enough. Grave was startled again just as he was outside of the door but he didn't stop working her breasts, as she slid his boxers down and had them fall in a pile at his feet he took one hand away from her and wrapped it around her waist to put instead his lips at her breast.

Joselyn waited until he nipped rather sharply at the nipple to speak again, "get on your back," once she whispered that he released both of her breasts and stepped back a bit to the couch. "On the floor," she whispered again, and again he did as she asked with out speaking.

Grave was on the floor soon and just as quickly Joselyn allowed her body to fall on him with an unceremonious grunting sound from him. She giggled girlishly at him, now they would both have a moment to mock one another for.

Joselyn kissed Grave again and quickly the little wordless joke was forgotten… for now. Grave wrapped his arms around her and kissed him back but he groaned loudly then, and it wasn't entirely a pleasant groan. But Joselyn knew what it was for and she thought it was perfectly pleasant. She knew that with her stomach she was forcing in an apparently uncomfortable position Graves dick against his stomach. Now they both had spots of transparent fluid on their bellies, rubbing and mixing into a whiter substance.

Joselyn got on all fours and relieved Grave from his pain, she broke away from his lips last, and she smiled at him. She was still rather wet but she was anything but cold now, most of the water that she had gotten on Grave had been rubbed away, although her hair would no doubt remain wet through the night. She could feel some of the cool water dripping down her back and sliding down the cleavage of her ass and past her pussy. If she was right then by the time they would fall asleep that night they would only be wet with sweat and a couple of other fluids, but not a drop of water would there be.

She watched his eyes as she went through leading to their final motions of the night. She briefly reached down and separated her labia, and brushed away her hair so that they would have no trouble.

Just as she had fantasized in the shower Joselyn pressed her pussy against him hard. He groaned just as loudly as before but differently. There was not a bit of pain in his voice now. She rubbed up and down his dick between her labia, occasionally stopping at her actual opening and pressing but never letting him in, but more often he simply found the spot above and pressed hard then.

Now Joselyn couldn't keep herself from making those sounds too. She was trying before to be quiet and to keep her eyes open despite the great task it was. It was because she thought it would give her a stronger impression of dominance, she wanted to keep Grave as submissive as she could. She didn't know that Grave would do virtually anything she asked or demanded in this manner.

Joselyn did love to tease him, especially like this, and she was growing closer and closer to a complete climax herself just rubbing up and down against him this way. She loved hearing him make those sounds and she longed to hear him more, but the thought of finishing their first time was too tempting, she wanted to feel the height of this _now_.

Joselyn searched for Graves wrists and once she had them she gripped them firmly and pressed them hard against the floor. Grave just maintained eye contact, he licked his lips then he swallowed quietly.

Joselyn lowered herself until their stomachs were touching, then she bent her knees and slowly moved backwards. The experience for Grave was a shock at first; she took him all the way in all at once. And they moaned together in corresponding musical notes. At first Joselyn did not move. Instead she tightened her convulsing muscles, Graves moan sounded almost strangled.

Later they would think back how well their first time went. They would remember how when they bucked their hips and ground their bodies against one another how they came to understand one another's rhythm, and so quickly.

Grave would later reflect how similar sex with Joselyn was to his transformation. When he was changed the sounds of flesh tearing, and the screams of incidental begging for mercy sounded musical. The smell of the meat and the feeling of warm sticky blood on his face made him purr with delight. With Joselyn it was the wet sound of their loins sliding together and their sweaty skin faintly making the sound of peeling when they came apart, it was the taste of her tongue and the feeling of her wet insides that had him under a spell.

They would never care or decide how long they lasted before they came. But eventually their breathing was labored. Eventually Joselyn was literally slamming herself against him and her face was so contorted and her voice was so loud that Grave thought she was hurting herself on his cock. She stopped then without taking him out of her, she just sat their with his erection inside of her and her hands still clutched around his wrists like she thought he'd disappear if she let go.

She was still mindful of him however. She continued to buck her hips after a moment and not long after she arched her back and began to moan again Grave came as well. Joselyn fell on Grave then, and with much effort she lifted her ass from him and managed to take him out of her. She lay on him and he did not make painful sounds now, she felt wonderful on top of him.

_**L**_

Joselyn's hands never left Graves wrists that night. Graves arms never fell from around Joselyn's waist. They fell asleep on the floor that night, they would wake up with a few cramps that they would only be dimly aware of and would not care about in the slightest bit. They were too warm to care, they smelled too good to care.

Now that they had finally done this things were forever changed. Perhaps they had always been lovers in their hearts but the heart is not all there is in the matter, so therefore the heart is not the only thing that matters. Everything was changed now that they had explored and enjoyed for the first time one another's bodies.

It was now that they belonged to each other.

_For those of you, who are fond of smut, please tell me if this was at all in good taste, I don't want you to think less of Grave and Joselyn just because this last scene was done it bit too raunchy. If Xahra99 reads this, then know that your opinion is the one I would value most on this subject._


	10. The Really Boring Part Before All Of

_Disclaimer and A/N: I do not own Square-enix or any property of said company. I also don't own any other trademarked thing in this chapter or whole story that I have neglected to not take credit for._

_It takes a mountain of faith_

_River flowing pain_

_It takes a hammer on a nail_

_A whole lotta love…_

_It takes a lifetime of working_

_A touch of understanding_

_It takes a wind in the sails_

_Little children singing…_

_It takes a sun burning knowledge_

_An ocean full of feeling_

_It takes a certain kind of hunger_

_A whole lotta love…_

_What It Takes by Jerry Cantrell_

**Part Ten: The Boring Part Before All Of The Really Cool Stuff Gets To Happen**

**The Afternoon After**

I have now been awake for a whole forty five minutes but I dare not budge. I dare not move or whisper or blink more than once at a time. Joselyn is still asleep, and she's so peaceful, and warm, and still mildly wet that I could not tolerate separating yet. I'm sure that if she woke up then she would need to go to the bathroom, or perhaps she would ask me to cook lunch for her –which I will inevitably do anyway- so I must keep her asleep as long as I can.

I am aware of the time because our face clock is positioned just beside our front door. Last night Joselyn positioned me so that I was facing the clock. I can see it past her hair… gray with the remaining moisture from her shower last night. Her head is resting on my right shoulder so her hair is only obscuring my vision of the time just a bit. The breaths from her nose are tickling my neck, and her smile which has not slackened at all during the night is stuck, kissing near my collarbone.

It's funny to me, for fifteen of the past forty five minutes I have been thinking about what people say about time. They say, 'Time flies when you're having fun,' I won't argue with that. This implies that time seems to slow down when you aren't having fun. I'm sure that the fun Joselyn and I had last night lasted longer than it seemed, but this seems different to me.

I love the way this woman feels. She's warm and soft, she's tall and she's strong. Joselyn and I are still in basically the same position as last night. She is on top of me, her hands are still like soft clamps around my wrists but she has moved our arms to our sides. My right leg is in between her legs, and her left ankle is crossing her right.

I lay here and I love the feeling of Joselyn, her weight on my body is not at all uncomfortable and I don't think it's because we're still junctioned. Yet as I watch the clock, this lasts forever. Time isn't flying for me at all right now. It's like I'm being given a pause. It's like I am granted extended bliss just this once. Perhaps this won't be the only time; maybe I can have a clock installed on the wall of the bedroom opposite the bed.

Assuming Joselyn has me sleeping in the bed with her now, I should hope she will. As great as last night was I think it would have been more comfortable on a bed.

It has been five more minutes and Joselyn inhales very deeply, enough to stretch all of the muscles in her chest and to obscure half of my vision of the face clock. She exhales by a narrow passage through her lips and makes the throatiest sound I have ever heard. Her breath isn't cold but it is cooler than lukewarm and it nearly tickles my skin.

Joselyn is regrettably waking up. I suppose that fifty minutes of awakened bliss will have to do for now. Her hands come away from my wrists and I am reminded before she gets up of how cold I will feel. Her palms are pressed on the carpet on either side of my shoulders and she pushes her torso up. She stretches without moving her body any more drastically. She rolls her shoulders and turns her head around; she breathes deeply which makes her breasts sway just slightly.

Joselyn looks down on me with one hooded eye and smiles like a vampire horny with runny redness. "Good morning," she whispers huskily, her smile tightens when my loins stir.

I can imagine how we would appear to an onlooker. We must look like a predator having caught her prey, and the prey lying helplessly waiting for the predator to have its way with the still living meat.

"Actually it's the afternoon," I say feeling embarrassingly like a servant daring to correct his master and hoping to be spared punishment.

Joselyn doesn't reply. She only slides her arms against the carpet so that she's held up by her elbows. Her hands go to either side of my head and she massages my scalp and ruffles my hair. She kisses me again but this time she does it softly. Although she allows as much of her weight as there is to her head to press against me.

I cock my head as much as I can whilst still pressed against the carpet and I part my lips. Then I lick her lips like she did to me last night. She opens her lips for me as well and she presses the tips of our tongues together in the same soft manner as how we were kissing.

Last night, just before all of this began, I was worried that my lack of experience would ruin things. I know that my kissing was awkward, my lips were not positioned just right it seemed, and when they were it felt like they were not quite the shape they should be. Kissing lips, I have not. But she didn't stop, not for a moment. I wonder if my lack of experience meant anything to her, she seemed to be enjoying me in a similar manner to the way she enjoys my meals.

Eventually she stops that as well and we're left to just look at each other again. It's interesting how just looking at her didn't have this much merit before. Perhaps it's because back then I was looking at her covered up. It was also I think the fact that I didn't dare look at her so closely at any given time.

I bring my hand to her face and brush away her bang to one side. Now I can do to her what she wanted for so long to do to me. I admit that yesterday I still didn't want her to see the symbols on my eyes. But she was so close to me and she caught me by surprise. Then when she finally had what she wanted it seemed pointless to turn away, she had already seen them, and it would have taken little effort on her part to make me show her again after that.

In truth my pupils are the parts of my body that concern me the most. Joselyn has made me feel less troubled by my skin, my iris's. But the day I saw those symbols so long ago was after the day my pupils had developed those shapes.

In that time I have never discerned how I might be connected to the Headmaster and his wife. I have decided that I look a bit like them, what with my hair sharing the colors and patterns of Mrs. Heartilly. Cody has said that the bones in my face bear a certain resemblance to the couple. That and our Headmaster and I seem to share the same appreciation for leather. I look like the lovechild of the couple killed and reanimated after being kept a few weeks in a large bottle.

But that is the only kind of connection that I have noticed. Similarity, my appearance resembles them and we share symbols. But the symbols are on my body, they wear theirs, on her back, around his neck.

I have never thought of a solid connection to our similarities. But the similarity cannot be coincidence. Coincidence is never this grand. I feel almost like a copy cat sometimes. I wonder if I have somehow stolen something distinctive from these people so that I might have defining characteristics of my own.

But surely I do have characteristics of my own. I know that Joselyn would believe that, and now more than ever her opinion has merit to me. I suppose now I will do what I always do when I think about this too much, I'll find a way to distract my self. How fine a morning this is because of Joselyn, she is going to make my distraction so very easy for once.

I bring my hands to her hair and clutch it the same way she's clutching my head. I don't stop kissing her, I don't move my tongue away from hers but I am a touch surprised by what I feel. Her hair is stiff, and I feel some substance –not her actual hair- crumbling and adjusting under my fingers.

Joselyn ever so slowly stops our kiss and she smirks looking a bit embarrassed "I didn't finish washing my hair last night before I came out here," she explains but I don't quite know what she means.

"But why is it stiff?" I ask as softly as we were speaking before, but the topic makes me sound somehow different.

"Conditioner does that if you don't wash it out," she sounds like she's trying to avoid my oncoming remark, yet she's preparing for it at the same time.

"So you didn't even finish washing your hair," I say as arrogantly as I possibly can. Not all of that arrogance is real but I'd be lying if my ego wasn't genuinely flying high above B-Garden.

Joselyn gives me one of those smiles that tells me that she isn't insulted but she still thinks that some punishment for excessive manliness is in order. She is squinting her eyes and her smile then she smacks me playfully on the side of my head. She knows that I don't think that I have complete command over her. I know that my cock is not some magic wand that will give me absolute control over her. Although, after last night I feel like I have some. I wonder how much I have.

I also wonder how long I've had it, because I know that it didn't begin when she was in the shower.

"You know what?" she takes me out of my train of thought softly, like she was escorting me out of a vehicle because she knew that I was spacing out. "I love the way you smell but I don't think that anybody else does. We should get in the shower."

"We?" I ask with some more of the arrogance that she smacked me for.

"I need to get this conditioner out of my hair, that and I kind of smell like you too," not once has she not been smiling this morning. I wonder when she will stop. I hope that is a gradual thing, rather than her being disappointed in me somehow.

Joselyn stands up then and leaves me on the floor. She points her nose to the ceiling and stretches for real this time. I know that she isn't putting on a show for me but it's just as good. Now I get to see her again but now by the morning light peering through our windows from the ocean where nobody will watch us. I can pretend that her legs are longer than they actually are, I see just the shade of pink her nipples are, and I see a bit of her vaginal lips winking at me from her pubic hair as she slides her legs from side to side.

Joselyn holds one hand down to me and I grab it, she pulls me up with out my help and I think the way somebody might think of a fetish how glad I am that she's strong. There is something very attractive to me about Joselyn's strength, physical or otherwise.

There is a knocking at our door once we are both standing and we are nearly thrown back to the floor by it. We spin to face the door and I know that she's as startled as me. But then we remember than nobody can simply barge in to our room. Our privacy is not in danger.

I assume that Joselyn will want to take charge of this situation so I wait for her to speak.

"Who's there?" she says almost instantly after I decide to let her handle things.

"It's Quistis, Joselyn. Is Grave okay? I'd like to speak with him," her voice is rather muffled but we can make out her words.

"I'm fine now," I say quickly, hopefully my tone of voice alone tells her that I'm not ill or in pain anymore.

"I want to talk with you about your mission, are you out of bed yet?"

"That's one way of putting it," Joselyn mumbles beside me and I almost laugh out loud but I stop myself. "I want you to my self again," she whispers to me softly in my ear, her tongue flicks out to touch my earlobe and I'm reminded of the night of our graduation. "I'll make an excuse for you; see you in the shower."

Joselyn kisses my cheek and presses her tongue against it, she feels the shape my teeth behind the meat then she struts to the bathroom. I can't help but watch her as she walks. It's times like now I wonder if she moves her ass that way just for me, but I've never been so arrogant as to think that, and I've never been so daring as to ask her. I don't think that I ever will in fact.

I go in to the bathroom as well and when I'm in there I see Joselyn wrap a towel around her body. She winks to me as she steps past me and in to the living room again. I shake my head and grin. I'm not sure if Joselyn will do this in the best possible way, in fact she'll probably give away the fact that we are officially together now. She could imply it incredibly without actually saying it; I think that seems like the most entertaining way to do it for her.

I turn on the water without needing to make the shower operate. Apparently Joselyn didn't even bother to turn everything off completely last night. The water is hot again however, so nothing is genuinely wrong. I hope things go well before Joselyn gets back, she's in a good mood, and I want her to stay that way.

_**EG**_

Quistis had not stopped fretting about Grave ever since Cody had managed to usher her out with him and Savior the evening of the yesterday. She could only think about what she was missing in the sense of wanting to know what happened, not in a pleased way. Surely he had changed further, Cody had indicated that much. But he would not say how Grave had changed. She hoped now to find out.

Quistis could talk only about Grave and theories about the things Cody had eluded from when she tried to interrogate him whilst walking, whilst he didn't face her –Savior managed to mock her for that during that previous evening with out being struck. She knew that she couldn't really know what he was thinking or how he felt about that with out asking him, but she was sure that she had bored him and she hoped to make up for it in the future.

Her dreams were peaceful due to nonexistence which she couldn't make herself feel guilty about. If it were another dream of Savior removing his helmet and their ravaging one another like crocodiles then she might have been able to make herself feel guilty. She thought Grave should be her primary concern at the moment.

There was another field exam happening as of now. Xu had decided the policy of two per year was rather inefficient. She thought that by having more they would be able to weed out the higher candidates early. The ones like Quistis and herself and those who wanted to be those people could have a chance to prove themselves early this way. Normally this might have been an irrational and foolish plan, but the PesticidE's made everything safe enough that they would not lose very many –if any- students to a field exam.

Because she was not required to attend this one she did not have any other official concerns. Quistis had no papers to deal with at the moment for she had arranged this for today that she would not have work to do with even the average students. She knew that she would have more soon however since she did not have absolute control over her job, so dealing with Grave was necessary for today.

Quistis felt relieved then when Grave told her through the door that he was okay. He was speaking clearly and apparently whatever change he had undergone was now reverted.

But he wasn't coming out now, and he wasn't saying anything now either. Perhaps she had struck a chord asking to see him now. What if he had only changed back for the most part, enough so that he could speak and cheerily at that? Perhaps he had only said that to make her leave because he had not yet changed back completely and he didn't want to be seen?

But Joselyn was in there too obviously, why would he not mind her seeing that?

The door opened and she was seeing not Grave but Joselyn. Clad in nothing more than a small towel, what Quistis recognized as dry conditioner in her hair… and a smile.

Absently Quistis thought about Joselyn's hair. Quistis herself had found out the hard way that conditioner threatened to stiffen when not washed out thoroughly, and she had never seen Joselyn take such bad care of herself.

Then that first thought past, Joselyn was standing before Quistis and just as the door fully opened, just as she was coming to some conclusion in her mind upon glancing at Joselyn. Then the aroma of three distinctive smelling body fluids wafted directly in to her nostrils and down her lungs.

_Oh,_ was all that entered her mind then. She even mouthed it silently and if it were Joselyn's smile she were watching she might have seen it tighten.

_So they're fucking now._ Was what her next thought was, and in the back of her mind something scratched at her, with this knowledge she remembered that she now owed Savior money. Quistis was not a betting woman, but it was a harmless amount of Gil. Also she was sure that she knew her students better than he did, so she was sure that she would win.

"We haven't showered yet," Joselyn said in the least suggestive way she could manage. Quistis had to wonder if the girl was even trying. "Can we just call your room in an hour or two?" Joselyn said smiling the whole time, her eyes lidded happily almost as if she wanted to bring Quistis in to the room with them.

Which was impossible of course, thought Quistis.

Quistis smiled and cocked her head to the side cutely, as if she was completely unaware of Joselyn's blatant sexuality. "As long as it happens today Joselyn, I'm sure I'll see you with him later."

"Oh you will," Joselyn assured her happily.

"I'll see you then," Quistis said then began to clop her way across the hall.

"Wait Miss Trepe!" Quistis spun around and saw Joselyn poking her head out of the doorway. She must have been reminded of something as she strutted back in to her room and remembered just before she closed the door.

"Yes?"

"I've been meaning to ask you something for a while." Joselyn fumbled with her hands visibly from inside the apartment, her towel was coming undone… or she had been undoing it as she walked back in to the apartment a moment ago… "Ever since I had my field exam I thought of something but kept forgetting to ask you."

It puzzled Quistis how friendly Joselyn was being right now. It was as if whatever was making her hostile with her was expunged overnight… Something passed through Quistis' mind then that brought her much clarity about the naked girl beyond her, but her thought was interrupted by said girl.

"Do you know if testosterone kills brain cells?"

They paused then, and Quistis cracked a smile. Joselyn cracked her own smile. Then Quistis laughed. Things continued in that fashion for a moment, Quistis held her stomach with one hand and literally needed to close her eyes at what Joselyn had just asked her.

If Joselyn had asked anybody else she would never get the same reaction as she was getting now from Quistis. To a normal person that would be simply amusing, or possibly insulting depending on their genitalia. But to Quistis it was more than amusing; it reminded her of herself.

Quistis caught her breath and snorted once rather embarrassingly. "You know what Joselyn?" Quistis began once she thought she would speak again without interrupting her self, then she laughed a couple of times again. "When I was fourteen years old I wondered that very same thing"

"And," Joselyn sounded literally expectant now, it was the first time Quistis could remember that Joselyn was genuinely interested in what she had to say, concerning her, and not Grave for once.

When Joselyn asked her that question that moment ago Quistis thought at first that she was only telling a joke, and not expecting her to have an answer for her, much less be as amused as she was. Joselyn always seemed to think that Quistis was a humorless person.

This was an unusual change of pace; Quistis wondered if it was an omen, except that was just a little lick in the back of her brain. She had no connection to anything else from this that she was aware of.

"I'm afraid it doesn't." Joselyn only looked mildly disappointed to be wrong; perhaps it was only because she knew she was wrong about something, and it was her nature to be disappointed by that. "But I think you're a very bright girl to think of it, SeeDs are encouraged to discover their enemy's stupidity, and their allies."

Joselyn pretended perplexity. "You never said that in class."

"I meant to imply it," she said quickly, then she gestured towards the inside of Joselyn and Graves apartment. "Go on, he's waiting," Quistis tried to match Joselyn's smile when she said that. The tall girl did not reply to her, she only went back in to her apartment and closed the door.

Quistis didn't leave for another couple of minutes. She contemplated Joselyn instead because she couldn't bring her self to Savior she thought, until she finished her interrupted epiphany from a minute ago.

Quistis thought of how unhappy Joselyn had been with her, and for no apparent reason. She thought of how Grave, in the past, seemed to ignore Joselyn when both of them were around him. She thought of how relaxed and friendly Joselyn was when Grave was so obviously hers now. She thought of the reputation she wished she didn't have, about attracting her unwanted attention from her students.

Quistis had to wonder then, how long had Joselyn had her eyes on Grave, how long had she felt possessive of him?

Perhaps it was none of her business. But she felt strangely responsible for those two. She understood they were people who kept their relationships to themselves and being one of those people herself she respected that. But she felt she had something to do with them somehow, something friendly at least, possibly intimate but in no sexual way.

Quistis hoped that Joselyn felt secure about Grave then. Her epiphany complete, Quistis went to her friend's quarters. She hoped, without conjuring any images in her own head, that her former students were having a good time in the shower.

**Sibling Malice**

Quistis' pleasure from her delightful encounter with Joselyn receded and her smile slackened as she neared the door to Zell and Netta's couple's apartment. She, Rinoa, Irvine and Selphie, and the couple themselves had been collecting there to simply spend time together.

Really they knew they were trying to mimic their time spent together before Squall vanished. They had done the same thing with him as well in his and Rinoa's couple's apartment. But they all knew that it wasn't quite the same, despite the fact that all apartments were identical just as all of the cadet dorms were identical, and despite the fact that Squall hardly partook when he was around anyway.

Quistis found herself in front of the door and unwilling to go in. The sound of her whip softly tapping her ass stopped just as her feet stopped. She didn't have a concrete reason to be armed at the time, but she had a feeling about strapping the weapon to her belt that morning. Quistis was not always the woman to go with her gut but sometimes it was sharp to her like Marcus' claws in her thighs when he did that strange kneading thing.

It was not strange or against any rule to be armed within the Garden, even if there were no alerts or known dangers within the academy. She would be able to enter and exit a mathematics classroom filled with students and nobody would bat an eyelash at her weapon. Her friends would probably think it strange since they never did that, they would no doubt ask her why she was carrying it first thing in fact, making strange faces and sounds with their throats.

Quistis thought absently that it may be the reason she was reluctant to enter, the reason that gut feeling had arisen in her. Although being armed physically was no match for her concern for she would not physically harm her friends over this.

Quistis' worry was not triggered by Squalls absence. Although being around Rinoa was not entirely unpleasant since that night, Rinoa became much happier and more pleasant, she was more hopeful after they found out that he may be okay. Or that he may be alive at any rate.

No, Quistis's concern was about Irvine and Zell. Lately the two foster brothers were at each others necks. Or rather Zell was at Irvine's neck and Irvine was simply slipping away and in to Selphies little arms. Irvine continued to openly hit on Netta, even when Zell or Selphie was in the room. It irked Quistis even though it was not her relationship that was being interrupted, but it was simply rude. The least her foster brother could have done was to do it quietly around nobody else so she could politely decline him and say that she was flattered.

Instead he was very forthright about it. It was interesting actually, it seemed that Irvine was pretending that it was only a joke, but at the same time he seemed serious about it. It seemed that Irvine wanted to let her know that he meant it but wanted a safety net for falling on. He perhaps needed something about this dangerous activity to be made safe for him.

Zell was clearly not falling for it. In fact he was the first one to demonize their friend –he was probably the only one who had demonized him, Quistis her self and the others were simply annoyed. Zell had already struck Irvine once which Selphie had sadly made him apologize for –Netta had also insisted on it. Quistis would have made Irvine apologize for his behavior now that she was thinking about it.

Quistis smiled to her self secretly, in the privacy of the vast corridor. Maybe that was why she brought the whip, because she wanted to lash Irvine with it. Perhaps she could whip him to the point of proper etiquette.

Although she would not actually whip Irvine, this thought gave her the cardiac fortitude she needed to enter.

Quistis knocked on the door once and the moment her hand left the metal it slid open and Rinoa was in the doorway. She was wearing her blue duster again and in her left hand she held a glass of orange juice that probably had some vodka in it. Her right hand was still on the button that opened the door.

Rinoa did not at once let Quistis in, first her eyes made their way to her whip, then she moved them back to Quistis' eyes. "Planning on tying him up today?" she whispered and smiled just a bit. Obviously there was a bit of vodka in the orange juice, normally Rinoa would not like to voice such a joke.

Quistis giggled not just to humor Rinoa. They went in to the apartment quickly as there was little ground to cover. Rinoa remained in front and took her seat on a love seat occupied only by her.

Although every apartment was identical people were allowed to decorate in any way they pleased. Certain erotic posters Quistis had a few times had the non pleasure of seeing when meeting students for tutoring were proof of that. Squall was a most lenient Headmaster. That sort of thing was among the numerous little changes that Xu would love to make.

Zell and Netta's apartment was very quaint but pretty. It retained the same plainness that the rooms began with but it was homier. The white the rooms began with was unchanged except for numerous blue contrasts that Netta seemed particularly fond of. She said to Quistis sometimes that Zell's eyes had fast made her favorite color blue.

They had extra surfaces installed solely for the purpose of holding the flowers and art that Netta was fond of. But there wasn't so much of it that Zell would gag at to look at in the morning.

There was only a couch and another loveseat which the present couples were occupying as they always did. Rinoa's seat was taken mostly out of nostalgia for she had spent many evenings in his lap in that chair. Because of this decided seating arrangement Quistis was always left with the office chair that normally sat before their personal computers desk. It was rather comfy, but it didn't have armrests, and for a woman her size there was no room for two. She thought it was rather silly of her self to think that since Savior was never there, but part of her wanted to at least sit as Rinoa was sitting now when things were normal.

The feeling of another body had never felt quite as _right_with her few former lovers.

Quistis in a mood of character that she only felt when she was with her friends –during unpleasant friendship times or not- jumped in to the chair and allowed it to spin around about a dozen thousand degrees before she plopped one foot down to stop her self. She smiled a bit dizzily and the other two women giggled at her. Zell and Irvine managed their respective smiles and almost fooled Quistis in to thinking that they were on normal terms for the day.

Selphie lifted her head from the crook of Irvine's arm, seeming to be taking a breath from a vat of butterscotch pudding. Quistis found the image of Selphie in butterscotch easy to conjure.

"Happy Quistis?" she asked rhetorically, seeming to be unaware of her lovers not quite founded treachery.

"Oh yes" said Quistis like anybody having stroked a fresh orgasm, although it was her students she was feeling happy for "I know that Grave is okay now, I just spoke with him, I'm going to go in to detail with him about his mission later" Quistis tried to wave dismissively. Although she was most happy about Grave and Joselyn it was not quite the thing she wanted to share with the others. They might think she had a crush on her former students and she could not currently take that type of accusation, no matter how sarcastic it may have been.

Luckily they did not press further; they only nodded and sipped whatever drinks they had in their hands. Selphie tried to poke her head out further to take her drink, she elevated her chin and looked simply pathetic as she tried to maneuver the silly straw in her strawberry concoction over Irvine's suede sleeve so she might not spill her drink on him.

"Raijin will be back soon with Fujin, and somebody else named Terra," said Zell seeming desperate for something to say, his head was in Netta's lap and she was stroking his upturned bristle like hair. At that angle it looked like butter spilling over her skirt, and then frozen in time, like somebody had cast a Stop spell on just that part of his hair.

Quistis had never become closely acquainted with Fujin or Raijin even after the Ultimecia ordeal. But it was good news to her that they were all right and coming home. Fujin especially since she had apparently undergone the same event that Squall had. But that thought was sidetracked when Zell said that last name. She recognized it only a bit at first, but then her own teachings from the Guardian Forces class come back to her.

Terra was the daughter of a woman dubbed the Madonna, and the Guardian Force Maduin of Lightning who was in their custody as it were. The powers and location of Terra her self are completely unknown to anybody but her. B-Garden had tried off and on trying to locate her for the information about her body and brain alone would be valuable to them. Her assistance along with her father and the other Guardian Forces would no doubt be just as valuable in battle.

If Quistis remembered correctly it was Joselyn who had that Guardian Force Junctioned. If what Zell said was true that probably meant that Joselyn would need to present her assistance.

"Did you say Terra?" Quistis asked thinking she might have heard Zell wrong although she was sure she hadn't.

"Mm hmm, why?" Zell said after inclining her head in her direction as best as he could.

"B-Garden has wanted their hands on Terra for a long time, she's a Guardian Force we think," Quistis explained quickly.

"We think she's a Guardian Force?" inquired Selphie rather innocently for a person who sat on Irvine Kinneas' lap. She had escaped the lock that was his arm and was now sitting upright.

"Well, her mother was a human and her father is Maduin so…" Quistis made a gesture by swiveling her hand a bit. She knew where they would go with this so she saw no point in elaborating, they understood what she meant –that the human in her body may not constitute to her being a Guardian Force herself- but that would not be their interest. Talk of bestialityesque activity would ensue in five… four… three… two… and one.

"…wait, wouldn't she get electrocuted or something?" Zell said, sounding much stupider than he actually was.

"No, no man. He controls it, he's a Guardian force for Hyne's sake," Irvine interjected as if he were involved a genuinely interesting and important discussion. Come to think of it Quistis thought, it probably is to him, and surely Selphie will join in shortly…

"But he's really furry isn't he? That probably isn't very comfortable." It was actually rather funny to hear Selphie say this. It was not just her apparent innocence which she miraculously maintained after her first night alone with Irvine. It was not just her sprite like countenance implying sex, what was really funny was the fact that she was posing a good point.

"Maybe he shaved," Netta said reasonably, and surprisingly. Zell looked up to his girlfriend as if Irvine was rubbing off on her in an acceptable way.

"Oh, my _merciless_ Hyne!" screamed Rinoa not due to the emptiness of her glass but the banter around her. "I can not believe I am _hearing_ this," she exclaimed and looked on her friends a touch aggravated. She was clearly amused by the talk as well but not nearly enough to participate.

"I can," Quistis muttered to herself -and none of the others heard her. Except perhaps for Netta she thought to her self, thinking that she might accidentally say it too loudly if she actually spoke it with her mouth.

"_Anyway,_" Quistis interjected loudly, she made very sure to let them know she didn't want to hear another word of this absurdity, although she thought, I'll probably have to actually say that. "They'll be back soon and Terra's arrival is probably going to be a big deal. In class I make it a priority that everybody knows about all of the Guardian Forces that we know of. I just thought that I should let you all know that it will probably be a big deal that she's here. We may have very big issues about Junctioning."

"Why?" asked Sephie, her straw touching her lip but not penetrating her mouth. Irvine seemed to be paying more attention to the object at Selphie's lips and less to Quistis. But Quistis knew that he was listening so she did not nag at him.

"Well she's part human probably so we can't be sure if she _can_ be junctioned. Also she allegedly lived with her fellow Guardian Forces at one point. So as a human she may be able to tell us things about them that the Guardian Forces themselves can't tell us," they nodded understandingly.

Really Quistis hadn't given any of this much thought until just now. True, she was always aware of it in the back of her mind. Ever since that night when she was fifteen and couldn't sleep, that night she crept in to the library unnoticed by using a silence spell on her self. In the same way she had taught Grave secretly later in her life.

Quistis was always thirsty for knowledge; this may have had something to do with being the first of her foster siblings to join the Garden organization. The Guardian Forces had always been the most intriguing thing about B-Garden to her. The very mention of them when she was interviewed so young to join was the reason she chose B-Garden over the other two. That and Trabia was so very cold. Contrary to popular belief within the men's locker room Quistis was not so adaptable to the cold.

Terra had fascinated her though she lost hope of seeing her eventually. Time and time again somebody would be assigned to track down the elusive half breed woman, but always they would come up empty, they would give up, or those assigning them to the job would give up thinking that their time was wasted away from their actual clients.

It was kind of funny when Quistis heard about the radio call. The woman at the helm in place of Nida was the one to receive it. She said that at one point Fujin had barked a quick report over Raijin's shoulder –Raijin being the one who was making the radio call- she had said, 'SHUMI.'

Quistis had been allowing herself to read the reports of the Terra related missions –even though it was actually illegal for anybody but the Headmaster or the writer of the reports to ever read them without written consent, or an urgent situation such as reflection during court or a Garden meeting about the mission- and only a few of them had tried Shumi Village.

The reports claimed that the Shumis were very, very dubious on the topic of Terra or any other Guardian Force for that matter. With Terra they were actually suspicious however. When Guardian forces of any kind came to mention the Shumis hasted to talk about something else. Some sort of worry, the way the reporters had written it, the Shumis seemed worried about information getting out for they were eliciting just that sort of behavior.

With Terra there was a certain anger that seemed to come over them, so the reports went. They became… defensive… that was the only way to interpret the descriptions of their behavior. They would begin to speak of something else and glower for a bit the reports would say. The message they were conveying it seemed –these were the words of SeeDs reporting- was that they had offended the Shumi somehow, and that by changing the subject or escorting them out immediately they thought they were doing the SeeDs a favor.

Quistis her self felt very, very excited about Terra's arrival finally coming to pass. She simply had now shown it in this room because she thought the mood would be sourer, that the air would taste of Irvine's rudeness and Zell's anger.

"I'm really happy about this, I thought that we would never get her," Quistis said sounding not terribly happy at all. The type of forced happiness she had lately shown while she was around these two male counterparts.

"You're such a nerd Quistis," Rinoa said and had Quistis' eyebrows elevated as if she were using telekinetic powers to contort her friends facial muscles her self. It was disturbingly funny Quistis thought with the other members in the room. Rinoa seemed to be very chipper, Quistis had to wonder why, and Rinoa even seemed more chipper than Quistis whose sort of a lover was actually near by.

"And _you're_ unusually happy today Rinoa," Quistis knew it wasn't quite a counter to Rinoa's quip but she could move the conversation in another direction this way. "It can't just be the drink."

"It's not," Rinoa smiled just a bit less, not out of sadness; it was more like relaxation from quipping Quistis that moment before. "… Knights and Sorceress's are really connected you know?" she knew they knew, Rinoa's hair flicked around a bit when she brought her face to Quistis' "I feel that Squall is fine right now somehow."

Selphie wanted to say something, and she took her time because it was quite a dangerous thing to ask it seemed, to he it seemed that way. "So when you were bawling over him and not leaving your room he wasn't okay?" It came out now at all like she wanted, and even Irvine flinched, Selphie smacked him lightly. Quistis felt the same as Irvine she suspected.

But Rinoa did not become sad or angry at all, she smiled serenely to her pixie of a friend "No Selphie, any connection I have with Squall was interrupted when I was _bawling,_" she smiled like she had when she quipped Quistis and she took another sip of her drink. Selphie felt better.

"Since I'm receiving something from him to my internal…" she didn't quite know what to say, she knew what she meant but she too late discovered that there was not word for what she wanted to say about her ability, "let's call it an 'Internal Squall Radar'" everybody laughed at her politely when she made up the title, but it did actually sound fitting to what she meant to say.

"If something is happening to me internally," she glanced to Irvine and gave him a ball burning glare, "_emotionally_-internally is what I mean," she turned her face back to Selphie as if Irvine wasn't below her at all. "Then whatever I might be receiving about his condition will be interrupted and I will not know what is truly happening with him." She sipped the last of her drink with finality, then she stood up, and moved back to the bar to prepare herself another glass.

The rest of their time together went by rather well. Quistis decided she would ask Selphie later if she had given him a talk earlier to keep Zell off of their backs. She wanted to think that it was simply because his troublesomeness was going to stop shortly, but then again she thought, maybe he just noticed my whip.

Quistis smiled and refused to tell he friends what she was thinking about. She stood up herself and went by Rinoa behind the counter to prepare a drink as well. Today was a fine one so far she thought, and any thought of something going wrong was not anywhere near the part of her mind where she envisioned things. Nothing would go wrong… nothing would go wrong…

**Alive In the Void**

Squall is not yet awoken from his last ordeal. The time disruption that seemed to strike him took much exertion. He has been tired for an undeterminable amount of time in this place that has no time. Yet his body still moves as if there were such a thing here. He will lose no time, but he will be well rested, and well healed when he finally wakes up.

Squall is floating, he spins in whatever direction the current moves his body. But he is stationary, he may feel that he is moving up once he awakens but is staying in the same spot. He might feel that he is elevating the same way he would feel normally if he were in water, if he were descending. That is quite how he will feel soon.

The place where Squall is must be void. He has not been transported to a place where he has been before; perhaps it is a place where he will be. Perhaps now is the time he was meant to show up and he was transported here only moments before then. He may think about this when he wakes up. It will guarantee to give him a harsh headache.

It looks only like blackness. It is the night without its stars or a large rock to stand on and watch this night on. It is a grand dark expanse. But it is not like an enclosed area of darkness. When he awakens he will look on it the same way he looks on the night sometimes, the darkness is not directly in front of him so it would seem to him. He will think always that he is in empty space with out stars.

There is no air to ruffle his clothing or his hair but he moves, it moves seemingly of its own accord. That is another underwater quality there is in this expanse with out time. The body moves as if it is being pushed by something. It is as if he is being moved by an invisible current, like he is floating in the center of a universe of water.

It will take him much time to figure this out after he is conscious, that he is being moved by the will of a powerful being, whose thoughts are everything and whose will moves like an ocean.

Squalls eyes flutter open in rather a womanly way when he is rested enough to sit up, if indeed up is the direction he is sitting. This makes him at once discover that his sense of equilibrium is completely thrown off. He will decide soon that his sense of equilibrium doesn't actually exist in this place.

He takes a deep breath and wonders where it is coming from. Squall thinks that he is in space at first but the lack of stars throws him off. He decides that it doesn't matter where he is really, he will likely be transported somewhere else very soon he thinks. It will probably happen just as something important comes to pass he continues to think.

Squall has register that there is nothing around him. He feels an unusual sense of displacement, as if things are moving but the grand scheme of things has stopped. The truth is it hasn't actually started yet. He doesn't know yet, he doesn't really know anything yet, technically he doesn't yet exist yet. He may never understand that. It is sure that she will not clear things up for him very adequately. This is perfectly fine for he will never really need to understand.

Squall is wondering where he is exactly, and when the next flash of gold will whisk him away. Really he is hoping for it now, for the first time he really wants to see it, he really wants to feel it even if it's as excruciating as the last time.

Squall is hoping for it now because he is starting to get the feeling that he has no other way out of this place, wherever this place is. He is reminded of the times when Holy was cast on him, that first stage of the spell where reality temporarily shatters and you are sent to a plain that is empty of everything but you, your companions and the offensive spell. This place also reminds him of the inside of Diablos's magic lamp. But that area had a floor, and another entity, and like his memory of the Holy spells that was another occasion when he was with allies.

Now Squall was alone, and in a far worse situation than those similar times. When the Holy spell was cast on him he would endure the pain and the bright light in his eyes. He knew that he could heal after it was over despite the pain, and he knew that it would be over, the Holy spell only had you in that other plain temporarily. After it was over you were last back in the original reality as if you were only wrapped in the second one, as if the second one was simply unraveled from him when the spell was over like a great black beach towel.

Diablos' magic lamp was a similar experience. The only difference was there was much more pain, another entity in the void… there was a floor… now that he thought of it there were many more differences but really there was one grand difference. Those other things were subtle ones. The big difference was the requirement to leave that place. Diablos was defeated and then the great void vanished from around them. It was just as the void of a Holy spell did.

Squall felt scared then that there was no escape. He was not familiar with this place; he was only familiar with places that werelike it. But he did feel a distinct impression from it. It seemed to tell him that there was no pattern here. In this place there was nothing for him to rely on because he was the only thing here that was anything.

For a moment he thought that the light may not be here but that made no sense. He was awake for the last time he was transported and he distinctly remembered seeing the light again. It seemed to happen only the moment after the moment he was taken by it, the moment he was transported that is. He concurred that the light could exist here. So his fears were partially unfounded. There was clearly a way out, it was just that this way out was completely unpredictable and possible never to come again, now that it could be a help instead of a nuisance.

"Hyne must be mocking me," he said irritably. He folded his arms over his chest tightly even though he wasn't cold, this place wasn't even lukewarm, and it seemed to be without temperature.

But then he felt something, just before he folded his arms in fact. It was just as the fourth word of his sentence left his lips that he began to feel something. It felt like some kind of activity inside of him. And it was all around him as well. It was something looming and grand like a sunrise happening in fast forward.

It was happening inside of him, and when the hand touched his shoulder he found out that it was happening behind him as well.

"Ah!" Squall jumped and spun himself around. He couldn't be sure how we willed his body to turn in this place, but he couldn't think about that right now either, it wasn't even in the back of his mind.

In front of Squall was the most magnificent woman he had ever seen. She was beautiful in the same way we imagine a heavenly deity to be, without any flaw we can see, with beauty too distracting to notice any imperfection we may be staring straight into. She wore clothes like robes but they seemed the most unconventional kind. It was as if she simply piled her body with as many ribbons, sashes and shawls as she could get her hands on. She was wearing a tapestry it seemed.

At the same time Squall didn't feel quite attracted to her. Squall was not a cheater or any other kind of sexual asshole by any means. He was devoted to Rinoa and he did not indulge sexually any other woman in reality. Sometimes he would steal a glance at Xu or Quistis' ass as they turned away from him when he was at his desk, but that was as far as he ever went away from Rinoa. He was strictly set on insignificant sexual interest in other women.

But just because he did it well and always didn't mean that it was easy. The women he worked with were rather enticing after all. This woman made it effortless, it was almost as if she knew about his plight and was doing all of the work for him on a level he was not at all familiar with.

Her hair was like her robes, the strands of hair seemed like many ribbons as if they could not be brushed into one unit they were meant to be separate. One strand of hair moved away from the air around her face, her robes and hair were swirling around her but this one seemed to be moved by her as if it were another appendage that she had. It was moving around her face, then it tightened in a knot –of its own accord- then it snapped the way two fingers do when brought together and came back to its full length.

Squall blinked and was mildly shocked again. The woman was smiling at him; she clearly did that on purpose, she must have been doing that to get his attention. He wondered for a moment why she didn't simply use her actual fingers to make that sound –for he had noticed that she did indeed have arms, she looked very human to him- and so before he gave her that attention he glanced to her arms and saw a bundle, the woman was carrying a baby in a dark blue cloth.

"And why sweet soul do you think I mock you?" the woman asked reasonably and with a voice that might have been made from magic, for her lips moved and the sound came from her throat, but her appearance was human and no human could sound like that.

I took Squall a moment to realize the magnitude of what the woman had said. And once that magnitude was upon him he had his doubts, but the sincerity of the woman's voice was enough to convince him. Her sincerity even seemed inhuman.

Squall did not say it at once for he didn't quite know how to feel, or what to say in this situation, but he did eventually get it out, albeit chokingly "Hyne?" it almost sounded like he was wheezing for he was out of breath. But he breathed the air that wasn't around him and felt fine, in the ways of his lungs that is. Truly he was far from fine.

"That is indeed what I will have myself called sweet soul, and now you will perhaps answer my question?" she was very sweet with him, her tone implied no amount of anger or urge to smite that certain books would claim. In the Holy Books of Hyne she is depicted as furious when her questions are failed to be answered, and especially when she is questioned at any time. This woman wasn't like that at all, Squall questioned again who she was but felt hard pressed to disbelieve her. Such an air of confidence around her, it seemed very inhuman as well.

"I, um… uh…" he mumbled dumbly to her in this fashion for quite some time. Hyne simply watched him with that smile no man could describe and which no human woman could mimic. It wasn't helping him at all. Squall realized that she meant to coax him into speaking by being patient with him. But there was something overwhelming about that patience which made him feel unworthy, it kept him from taking advantage of it despite it being given to him wholly and willingly.

"Take your time sweet soul," she said clearly and softly, there was more of that patience, it felt infinite and so wonderful like a harmless but fierce river of orange halves and cream. He felt he was being dipped in it to enjoy the feeling and whatever pleasant sensations that his soul may be able to feel inside of his body.

_This must be why I'm not answering_, he thought; _she's making me feel so good with her patience that I don't want to be without it._ He knew now that by answering her he would be without this wonderful and infinite feeling of her patience.

He wondered then what her pride must feel like.

Surely this is Hyne he thought.

Squall squinted and breathed again then. He felt a bit more at ease then; he hadn't realized that such pleasure without physical exertion could tighten him so. He hadn't realized at all that he needed to be eased. It occurred to him then that closing his eyes would help him answer her; surely he couldn't be greedy about this feeling, he was lucky enough to feel it at all. He would answer her now.

Squall took a deep breath, his eyes were closed now and although he could still feel the grand presence of the great creator before him he felt that he could speak now. Not looking at her took much of the weight from him. "It was just a figure of speech actually; I've been part of several unfortunate coincidences that they don't seem coincidental. It seems to me that only someone of your power could make all of this happen to me." Squall worried somewhat about how humble he might sound. This Hyne was not as she was depicted, so much so that humbleness and ass-kissery would accomplish nothing with her.

"I promise you sweet soul that I have done nothing of the sort, I have only brought you here to me. In no way have I ever interfered with you before this." Her sincerity now reminded him of a forest where everything exudes the aroma of mint and thyme. It was just as overwhelming as her patience; he needed to say something again. _It's funny_, he thought, _before I couldn't get enough but now I can't stand it, it's like too much sugar in my coffee but I still want it._

Squall opened his eyes again and looked at her face once more. Hyne had not moved her gaze from him at all, he could feel it so much that he knew it. "I believe you," he said which may have been unnecessary, but he knew of no other way to externally establish trust with Hyne, if indeed there was any need to establish such trust. Hyne seemed to automatically trust, perhaps he was only doing what she wanted him to do, perhaps even Seifer would have her praise for what he had done he was meant to do.

_Perhaps,_ he thought.

He wondered what her forgiveness felt like; he wondered if she felt he needed it.

"So, um," he felt stupefied again, foolishness it was to look in the face of Hyne it seemed. Squall found that one could never answer a single of her questions with your eyes on her.

"Yes, sweet soul?" she said as sweetly as she must have thought his soul was –or knew his soul was rather or so he thought was the way she operated.

"What brings me here?" he said as a joke, she may have known that but she did not laugh and neither did he. Hyne seemed to be very pleased already.

Hyne giggled in a womanly way after Squall thought that his effort at humor was meaningless. With somebody else like Rinoa he might be mildly annoyed, with somebody like Seifer or even Zell he would probably become a bit angry –or very angry in the case of the former… or even the latter once he thought of it. It was impossible to feel bothered by Hyne when faced with her.

Squall wondered absently how angry people would be if he could confirm for them that Hyne was not a man. Even after the feminism movement people insisted that Hyne was a man, that she was a sorcer_er_ rather than a sorcer_ess_. The historical evidence didn't actually indicate either really –except of course the careful use of the word sorcer_ess_. It wasn't until now that Squall realized Hyne probably gave no indication of which one she was, or if she was really either.

There was one thing that Squall was very certain of now but asking her would have to wait. He thought now that everybody was wrong in that Hyne didn't actually interfere much or at all. She did say just moments ago that she had never interfered with him until now. This would be worth asking her he thought; when else will I get this chance after all?

"I have been watching you very closely for a while now Squall Leonhart," Squall was surprised when Hyne said his name to him. He thought for a while that she didn't know –despite the impossibility of that, or so he thought. Now to hear his name from her he felt almost embarrassed to not assume automatically that she knew his name.

"The after-effects of Time Compression have been a bad nuisance to you."

"What?" Squall knew that it would be very rude to interrupt her but he needed to. He wasn't even sure that he had heard her right. Or maybe he just didn't want to think that he heard her right.

Hyne made a very sweet gesture that someone would do when a pet did something impossibly cute, or if a lover said something a bit stupid but funny. She tilted her head to one side, then blinked her eyes and only opened them halfway leaving them partially lidded. It was just the sort of look he would expect to see from Rinoa sometimes. Thinking of Rinoa made him think that Hyne's version of the look was not quite as moving, but close.

"Time Compression is not yet over Squall. That only happens when the summoner is completely destroyed," she explained giving no indication that she thought him stupid. He knew that she only knew that he was completely uninformed.

Squall did not speak at once now that he knew that there was no rush, not in this place without time. He developed his message on his own time as Hyne adjusted her head the way it was before. "I'm afraid that I only understood the part about Time Compression not being over." And that was the most depressing part for him, until of course he heard the rest of it.

"Then I will explain everything for you, it won't take long," not that it mattered thought Squall, but he decided not to say that. True, Hyne had not shown even the tiniest hint of anger, not even when the mentioned the magic that contorted the reality that she herself created. Still Squall didn't want to encourage any sort of anger in the deity.

"The summoner is Ultimecia. Her magic is not limited to unlimited spells and the contortion of reality. She also has Espers at her disposal, two of which she has created her self." Squall absently wondered how the words limited and unlimited could work together in a sentence side by side. But then he decided that listening to Hyne when she spoke to him was a more important thing to do. But then he recalled that he didn't know what an Esper was, so he spoke up. Hopefully she would keep up her understanding bit for him.

"What is an Esper?" he asked as normally as he could, he didn't really think that he would ever be normal at all anymore, certainly not after meeting the Hyne.

"They are the entities you and your fellow humans call Guardian Forces. I probably should let you discover this on your own, but I feel that I should tell you that they are not entirely happy about it, most of them anyway" this was the first time Hyne gave the impression that she was unhappy about something.

It had truly never occurred to Squall that the Guardian Forces –or Espers as Hyne called them, perhaps I should make a habit of calling them Espers thought Squall- could possibly care about being inside a human. It had never occurred to Squall per se that these 'Espers' had feelings of pride but he did understand that they were intelligent. He also understood that they were always or most often contained in something when they were found.

Diablos had been in the magic lamp; Bahamut was in that tube of light, Ifrit was inside the lava in the fire cavern, the list went on. Many had been found inside the electric currents in machines and the brains of humans and other things like Norg where SeeD's themselves stored them. It seemed to Squall that it was nothing short of natural for an Esper to spend it's time inside the mind of a human like it would anywhere else.

Also, Squall thought, many of these Espers had agreed to join him and other SeeDs. But then again many if not all them seemed apprehensive about joining them, the same way a human is apprehensive about putting their foot in a vat of scorpions. But they always agreed ultimately when they were defeated or simply discovered. Their attitude about it had always struck Squall as displeased but proud. As if they were following some code of honor about taking defeat and mercy with grace.

Upon thinking about it Squall decided that it was possible for the Espers to be unhappy about their… captivity. That seemed to be the life Hyne was suggesting they had. It was certainly conceivable but now he wanted to hear an Esper say that to him. It wasn't that Hynes word wasn't believable, to say that would be more than blasphemy. But this wasn't quite Hyne's issue he thought, this was an issue concerning the Espers and him since he was essentially in charge of how they were handled.

Already he was thinking of how to deal with this, perhaps he thought, at this rate when I do get back home I'll have a good plan to work this shit out.

Squall wondered if Hyne didn't like cursing. He knew that even if she didn't he would probably continue to do it.

Hyne continued once she knew that she had Squall's full attention. "The golden light you have been seeing are time disruptions. They are minor distortions brought on by Time Compression after it has passed. They are a sign that Time Compression is not over and that it is trying to happen again, full fledged just like three years ago." Hyne sounded a touch grim, but Squall hardly noticed with her calm, he still felt hopeful somehow despite the hopelessness of her words.

Squall might have thought that the notion would have struck him like a bolt of lightning, or a shard of glass to his thigh. But he realized what this meant rather gradually without even a touch of shock. It was much like somebody had opened his skull and poured the knowledge into his head as if it were smooth creamy pancake batter… laced with cyanide.

"Ultimecia isn't dead," he stated quietly, he heard himself, and Hyne heard him, nobody else needed to.

Hyne was like a maid who was so very careful with glass. She nodded instead of speaking as if she thought that her voice would destroy him after hearing this. It troubled Squall this, the thought that Hyne herself was afraid she might destroy him with the news.

But he needed to be told. Ultimecia's survival was very serious business. They would probably need to devise a whole new way of coming in mortal contact with her, and then of course there was the matter of defeating her again. She would no doubt have a new plan for her own victory which would prove most troublesome.

So much to be done, he thought, I really don't want to do this.

"I'm sure that you will be able to do this again Squall, and if you can't then I will simply stop this myself," she said this like it were the only way to do things, and so Squall simply had to ask her.

"Why can't you just stop her now?" He couldn't help but include some hostility in his tone. He knew perfectly well who he was speaking with but that was part of why he felt hostile. She was suggesting that he go through what could mean the genuine end of him and the world, and his friends, and his wife when she could no doubt stop this madness as the flick of a wrist. And on top of all of this she was unhappy about it so she could not simply say that she didn't care.

What Hyne said surprised him, and again he found himself believing her, although he didn't want to.

"Squall," she began much like a mother would her child when telling them something they didn't want to hear, and in that moment he felt like that was just what was happening. "I am not as the books say. I can begin everything, and I can end it. I can interfere in minor ways as long as it does not disturb the flow of things the way I did with you. I could not have summoned you to me if not for that random disruption; if I ever tried I would likely destroy everything. You might say I don't know my own strength." She smiled and giggled like a huff. Squall found himself believing Hyne as preposterous as this sounded, surely someone who made them self would not limit their own power so…

"You weren't the first thing to exist were you?" This little epiphany had nothing to do with what he needed to be thinking about but to such a creature as Squall it seemed very, very important information.

Hyne smiled, and thought she could allow Squall to go off track just this once. "No Squall, I am one of many. My people each have their own galaxy to take care of and I am the one who watches over yours, that is all I will tell you." She was absolutely sweet in telling him this, and not once would he try to stray back to this subject because of that.

"You said random," he might not have noticed, and Hyne might not have told him about this had he not asked despite her unparalleled patience.

"Time Compression is not a controlled spell Squall; Ultimecia only uses it without concern because she knows that it will not harm her."

"Why won't it do that? Time Compression affects everything."

Hyne smiled at Squalls expense although she knew that he would never have known this if she couldn't tell him. "When you summon Squall, does your Esper harm you?" Squall did not like the look on Hynes face but he didn't say that.

"Time Compression is an Esper?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Not quite, it is the ability of an Esper. It is called Seraphine; it is a great angelic dog. Seraphine is a creation of Ultimecia, and so is Griever if that interests you?" Hyne seemed very pleased with herself at his expense, her status had him forgiving her but not laughing with her.

"I brought you to me Squall because I never get to do this. The circumstances for bringing one of my children to me are so strict that I can never do it, but when I can nothing makes me happier than to speak with one of you. Thank you" Hyne leaned over to Squall and kissed him on the forehead.

Hyne felt the way any beautiful human would, but her kiss there was a breath of something that passed into his brain and gave him an indescribable kind of peace before it evaporated inside his skull.

"I love to let my children know things that fate won't tell them. Now you know that your teleportation has been random, I hope that doesn't trouble you. I know that I shouldn't tell you very much more but I _feel_ that I should. Squall, you have defeated Ultimecia before –I saw, you were very good- and you will need to do it many more times for her to be completely and utterly gone. She exists on many planes and so you will need to travel many planes to utterly defeat her. But the first time is in your own world, and it will be the hardest. Know this now so that you might end this madness forever."

Squall only nodded. This was all quite a load to carry now but he would have time to deal with it he was sure. He believed that Hyne would never tell him all of this if she knew it was too late, if it would be more of a way to mock him instead of a way to help him. He could not believe that Hyne was an entity of trickery.

Squall admitted to himself that he was afraid when he wondered what her malice would feel like.

"How will I travel to her to defeat her?" he asked out of necessity, but he had a strange and horrible feeling that she would choose now to be necessarily cryptic, and he was disappointed.

"I'm afraid I shouldn't tell you that much Squall, but I don't need to tell you, for when the gateway is open you will know what it is." I always hate it when I'm right, Squall thought.

"You're sure I'll know?"

Hyne smiled like a proud mother again. "I know you Squall, you are very perceptive. I may not be able to see into the future but I have become very adept at prediction. If things play out the way I think they will then the gateway will be open before you before long, and you will know what it is"

Squall grinned like a young boy hoping for a treat. "Do you think that you could tell me anything else before I go, surely you're going to send me away?"

"Yes, regrettably I am –really if I had my way I come to you and everybody else myself, I do wish that I could speak with my children more often. And another unfortunate thing is that I must not 'hog' you, as they say back on Gaia. But yes Squall, I may be able to tell you some more."

"I would be grateful to hear anything more," he could not remember sounding more sincere, or more like an ass kisser in all of his life. And for some reason he could forgive himself for it. He knew that he had a very good reason to behave this way. Hyne had quite an affect on people when she could summon them.

"I think that all I should tell you is that the SeeD Grave has you, and even part of your sweet soul Rinoa, but he would be better off without either of you."

_That,_ Squall thought_, is the worst possible cryptic thing she could have said to me._

"Are you saying that he's a danger to us?" his grin and boyishness, now the other sweetness she saw in his soul, his protectiveness of his lover, was showing in its place.

"Quite the contrary actually Squall, Grave and Joselyn will make much more than a cute couple later. I just know it." Suddenly Hyne reminded Squall of somebody who couldn't wait to see the next update of their favorite television program.

The news that these SeeDs were involved meant very little to Squall and more than that it didn't surprise him. He had always thought that it wouldn't be unusual for SeeDs rooming together would decide to have sex or at least begin some kind of friendly relationship. And he had never cared about that with any of his mercenaries. If they wanted to sleep with each other it made no difference to him as long as they made sure that there were no pregnancies or trivial arguments within the ranks that could hurt morale.

For the most part those troubles were kept under control without any kind of supervision.

So Squall was completely uninterested in that part of Hynes message. What caught Squall's attention was that these two had anything to do with him and Rinoa at all. "What do they have to do with Rinoa and me?"

"Grave has more to do with you and Rinoa than Joselyn does, in fact she's little more than incidental to you. But she is still very important, if not for her than this would all be ruined and I would simply need to end things ahead of time," this was the first time Hyne said anything to suggest no care for her children. Perhaps she was just letting him know how dire things were, perhaps he sounded like he was less impressed by Joselyn somehow, which he was but he didn't think that he should have mentioned that.

"You're not going to tell me enough to make sense of things are you?" he didn't mean to sound disrespectful, but he knew that he didn't even try to counter that tone in his voice. Hyne did not frown so he assumed that he was already forgiven.

"I'm afraid not Squall, I don't need to tell you anymore." For the first time Hyne looked away from Squall and gave the attention of her eyes and her arms to the bundle she had been holding.

Squall knew then that he would not get anymore concrete information out of Hyne. He decided that he was lucky that she had told him as much as she had. _Hell_, he thought, _I'm lucky to be here in the first place._ So like a guest only mildly interested in the host's baby he willed his body to float closer to Hyne's, and he tried to look at the baby.

He leaned as far as he could without looking down the one true creator's cleavage. He could not see the baby still; she was holding it away from him so that he could only see the shape of the baby and the cloth around it. Its shape seemed fairly normal to him, yet with Hyne he wanted to be surprised.

Hyne looked to him with pride again but this time it was not for him. She looked a mother proud of the bundle in her arms despite its lack of activity. Normally Squall would look upon such a person as hopeless and annoying, but Hyne -with her great ability of prediction she no doubt had- he found himself only happy about this child. He could not think pretension of Hyne.

"This is the other thing that I wanted to show you. But before I do I want to tell you a little bit about it." Hyne knew that she was teasing him about this; she obviously had Squalls attention with the child. So far she had only told him interesting things.

"Tell me," he urged her, it would not make her haste herself however and they both knew it.

"This Squall," she stopped for a moment then looked at the child again, she moved only her eyes to Squall then and grinned unlike he imagined any deity would, so adolescent was her countenance now. "Is a very special creature, if I had a favorite this would be it. This is the first sentient creature from which all other sentient creatures evolved from in your world." Hyne lifted her head proudly for him for a moment but then she looked back to the child and tickled its belly. The sound it made did indeed sound childlike but did not sound entirely human to him, semi human at best.

Squall had never before thought about what the first sentient being was. But he did firmly believe that humans and Wendigo's shared a common ape ancestor. But the first one… what did all of the sentient creatures have in common beside their sentience?

"And I mean all of them Squall, I really hope that you get this," she sounded like she was sure that he would, but he thought he might not at first. The anticipation of knowing which was beginning to trouble him and he wondered if Hyne was ever going to show him the baby at all.

Hyne unfolded the cloth from the babies head and she turned it to face him. Squall was more than shocked when he saw what she was carrying at first, he almost gasped even. But his gasp stopped at once. He realized that he was not looking at something horrifying or dangerous; he was only surprised for a moment… and once he thought about it the thing was kind of cute.

In the arms of Hyne was a baby Shumi. Its skin already wrinkled and white, the image of a melting candle without a wick and flame was only interrupted by its big black eyes. Eyes so large the child would no doubt grow into them. The Shumi's cloth was light blue with gold trimming that Squall had failed to notice before. The colors reminded him of the robes the Shumi wore in his time.

_These were the original sentient creature?_ He asked himself.

"Remember what the Shumi said to you three years ago Squall, I know he said it, I watched very closely." Despite these words Squall knew that Hyne was not suddenly impatient, he could still feel the patience in him.

Squall had not spent very much time with the Shumi. He had not visited frequently and for a moment he didn't know what she meant but he hardly thought that it mattered. He decided quickly that Hyne wanted him to recall his first visit to the Shumi village before he and his friends had even finished their journey against the witch who sadly stilled existed.

Squall remembered being very bored every time he had visited, and especially the first time. He remembered doing that inane errand for them; he couldn't even remember what the reward had been. He had only decided to do that to pass the time, despite the fact that he had an epic battle to attend to at the time.

He remembered voices more than he remembered words. The Shumi dialect was a thing that really stood out to a human. It was very clear and easy to understand when they were speaking English instead of their own language –which they for some reason refused to speak in the company of humans and even monsters with whom they would never speak.

Hyne just mentioned evolution, thought Squall, perhaps that has something to do with what she means?

Squall tilted his head back and with a deep breath took in the non air. He tried his best to recall actual words from the small allies they had made –he instead remembered then that Zell did not think that the Shumi qualified as allies to a mercenary academy because they were pacifists.

It was then that Hyne decided to help him, and that was probably good because he might never have remembered on his own. "Think back to when they were explaining what they are to you."

That was also very boring, thought Squall like the childlike adolescent he no longer was. He tried but it was too much like taking the peanut butter from the bottom of the jar before penetrating the layer on top. It seemed impossible, and although there theoretically was a way to do it the method was beyond him. And on top of that he really didn't care enough, but he really didn't want to tell Hyne that.

It was strange and yet it wasn't, how this deity became as important to him as a lifelong family member in a matter of what would have been minutes, had they been in a place where time operated.

Hyne decided to help him a bit more, she sounded very playful about it " 'We Shumi become…" she waved one hand in a circular motion for emphasis on how she wanted him to figure it out for himself. Whenever anyone else did this gesture to him he assumed they thought that he was stupid, but he could not believe that Hyne thought that, Squall thought that she was only trying to have fun with this life changing information.

I wonder if Hyne has a heart he thought then. It was more of an absent thought then anything else. He didn't quite know what Hyne _was_really, so the thought of having an emotional heart –he was sure that she had such a thing- made him wonder if she had an anatomical one. That was when he remembered.

"What is in our hearts," he finished late so when he said it he did not flow with Hynes beginning of the quote, and so he decided to say it again. "We become what is in our hearts."

"Very good," Hyne said, she might have clapped if she weren't holding the Shumi. "I imagine that I have set things in motion enough in your favor now." Hyne made an unpleased face. "I don't want to do it but I have to send you back now."

He knew that he was being selfish but Squall knew he would regret it greatly if he did not ask Hyne this now. "Can you send me back home?" he was excited but not happily, any happiness would come soon, Squall was not a fool who would expect the best at once.

Hyne smiled but it was another enigmatic one, the few seconds of suspense were weighing on him more than a few seconds ever should. "Yes I can Squall, but you should know that I can't tell you how long it will take you to get there, and this time it's because I don't know."

"I don't care I just want to go home," he said very quickly, not a bit of embarrassment came into play.

"All right Squall," she said obligingly. "I was very happy to see you up close," and those were their final words. Squall might have said something but Hyne gave him not the chance. She leaned to him and floated a bit as well and kissed him on the forehead again. This time he felt the very same sensation of stirring with out an unpleasant sensation. He felt it very much in his eyes this time, it felt like ripples of resonance quivering jelly.

For the first time Squall felt not like he was being enveloped by the light, or impaled by the light, this time he felt like he was becoming the light. He did not see golden light overpowering the sights around him, rather everything began with a gold tint, and then it gradually became shining. His sight even was the golden color. He could taste the presence of something untouchable but filling inside his mouth.

Squall was gone but to him it felt like the deity and the place around him had vanished instead. This feeling of light seemed to go on forever, it was lovely, and he had no idea when it would end.

**Old Friends Make Up**

After their shower Joselyn had favored the couch over the bar stools on the outside of their small kitchen. She wasn't sure if she had a full night's sleep before the light came. Her back was to the clock when she had sex with Grave and she was completely unconcerned with the time then, and now she was too tired to look that way. She would be getting up soon but she still wanted to rest more. Her hair had not yet finished drying and she was only wearing a white towel around her waist.

I wonder if this will boost his ego more, thought Joselyn, he's only done this once but already he can wear a girl out. Joselyn found after that thought that she only had enough strength in her to smile.

Truth be told she had done most of the work and both of them knew that, but it was still a funny thing to think.

Things did not go quite that way when they were in the shower earlier however. Grave took initiative the moment they had the water at just the temperature that they agreed upon. She decided to let him do things this time and he smiled the whole time like a hungry animal. He had found the two spots above each of her hips without instruction that she loved so much. He had found them with his hands initially but once he heard her make her pleased yet unfamiliar moans he latched one mouth over one while he kept a hand on the other.

SeeDs were given very generous showers. The other features of the bathrooms were not very much unlike the cadet dorms except for the closet-like quality. The showers were large enough for two people to lie down in and so lie down they did. Both of them had respectively fantasized about one another on this very tub floor more than once and they had confessed that while they were in there… at the time when they were talking anyway.

A rather cute moment occurred to Joselyn then. Grave had decided that he wanted to be on top this time and Joselyn had no real trouble with that. She already had their first time just the way she had imagined –minus the conditioner on her hair but she found that easy to overlook- so trying things this way was no trouble anymore. The thing about this that pleased Joselyn so much –besides the orgasm of course- was that he was paying attention to her.

Grave had begun like any other male virgin might doing things on top for the first time. He had his hands latched onto her shoulders from the back, and was pulling himself back and forth in her as if he were doing chin ups. In the middle of it all he noticed that she was not responding and even went so far as to say that she looked bored.

Joselyn's memories of the last one were distant but she remembered him doing the same thing but not noticing her discomfort. Grave actually wanted to do things properly. She taught him quickly that he needed to thrust with his hips rather than drag his whole body back and forth. After he understood that, things went as well as they had on the living room floor.

Joselyn giggled when she thought about Graves sexual ignorance. It may have been wrong of her, but she knew that if he heard her mocking him thusly that he would only crack a grin, and then he would grasp the newfound spots above her hips. He couldn't really help it though, even though she knew this was like a jock mocking a nerd for typing really fast… or rather, really efficiently.

Grave wasn't the best lay in the world but she knew that he'd be the best for her eventually. Until then they would simply need to practice as often as possible.

"What are you grinning for?" Grave was leaning against the bathroom doorway in a pair of long boxers with water dripping from the tips of his hair locks like feathers. She was suddenly reminded of that day weeks ago when he apologized for assaulting her. Although then he was fully dressed, completely dry, and leaning on the other side of the doorway, but his stance was just the same. Her smile changed but he still looked inclined to hear about the lecherous one she knew she wore a moment ago.

"I'm just thinking about our new love life," neither of them voiced the implications of the word 'love' when she said it, or the way she said it. But they did acknowledge it silently and simultaneously.

"Oh," he said with the lowest rumble his lustful lizard's voice could manage. He still only managed a low tenor like the kind he usually had but he did manage to enhance the resonance. Hearing him gave Joselyn the sudden urge to say 'shmexy' playfully. She didn't think it would ruin the mood or anything –in fact at the rate they were beginning their sex life a ruining of the mood couldn't hurt.

She was about to conjure a sentence for the non word but Grave had already strode across the room and dropped to his ass in front of her. They were at eye level now, a crack at Graves height occurred to Joselyn then but she held her tongue.

Grave caught the look on her face however and she was caught. "What are you thinking about?" Joselyn thought of about a dozen lies in that moment but she felt that she shouldn't lie to Grave, so it was the truth that came out.

"Just a short joke," she said as innocently as she could manage but innocence had never really been her forte so it came out sounding very sarcastic. She sounded like she had been accused of something she had been seen doing but was trying to lie anyway.

Grave was hardly insulted and it showed. His height was never a thing that he was insecure about; in fact he was fond of it. Mercenary's sometimes needed to hide from the enemy to get the job done efficiently, and being shorter helped in finding hiding places. Also it made flaunting his unnatural strength even more fun because it always had his opponents underestimate him.

"Go ahead; I'll have a tall joke ready for you," Grave said feeling certain.

"A tall joke, really?" she believed him but she needed for him to tell her about it.

Instead of going into a detailed anecdote about her he just asked her something quickly; a long anecdote might not have had the same impact. "Sure, how many times have you hit your head on the cupboards in the kitchen"

Joselyn laughed at that because he had a fine point. That alone gave him easy counter material for any short joke she could shoot at him. "Okay," she said when she finished laughing. "You win, I hadn't even thought of one, I just kind of wanted to."

"Oh I see." Grave put either arm around her head and buried his face in the hair that lay over her neck. It was still somewhat moist but not very much so. It was not quite enough to put droplets of water on his cheeks and nose but enough to make his face feel damp. He breathed in the scent of the shampoo she used and was secretly relieved that it wasn't mint.

It wasn't until that morning that he wondered if she used mint shampoo, he'd thought of other products but never hair products so he had never looked, despite it being right in front of him since they shared a shower.

It had occurred to him more than once that Joselyn could be using some product to give her that otherworldly smell he loved so much. It was that smell that changed him back to his own version of normal. Although, whenever he thought about it logically that smell could never come from some lotion or perfume –he later confirmed also that Joselyn did not wear any kind of perfume.

The fact of the matter was that no toiletry product could have that magic quality that made him human again. His Special Skill he thought made him less human. It was like the blood brought something out of him that changed his body.

In fact, when he reflected on how it felt, he thought there might be something inside of him. A thing that grew and changed his body as if he were a conduit, he wondered if he were holding something inside of himself, and this made him wonder if it were a Special Skill at all.

Grave also worried because even after all of that change that he endured on their mission, he thought that his transformation had not quite finished, not even then after he drank the blood of a child.

"Is something wrong?" Joselyn had turned her head to look at Graves face and he had not even noticed. He had not realized that he was making an unpleasant face.

Joselyn put one hand and the side of Graves face and turned it slightly so that he was looking at her directly. She did not smile at once so he did. Nothing was genuinely wrong with him so he didn't think that his smile was deceptive, he was not trying to hide anything from her. And if there was anything troubling him very much he would have told her.

Joselyn smiled for him but gave the impression that she wanted to interrogate him later. Joselyn inserts her ring finger into Graves mouth and he sucks on it absently while he looked at her up close.

Never before had Grave thought that something could be pleasantly lopsided, in fact the notion had never occurred to him before. But Joselyn's eyes were just that, they were so green, he wanted to pluck them out with his tongue and suck on them too but he wouldn't because it was wrong and horrible on so many levels. They were not in some world where the entities could do that to each other affectionately.

He knew at least that she liked the notion that he wanted her in his mouth.

Unfortunately, like all romantic moments this one needed to end. And like certain romantic moments this one was interrupted with something unpleasant. Grave had managed to take in all of Joselyn's ring finger and had his tongue wound around it as much as he could when Cody knocked on their door.

The sound alarmed them and Grave actually spat out Joselyn's finger in the same manner of a spit take. The door knocked again and Joselyn smirked at him feigning annoyance. He gave a very goofy grin and she wiped her finger on the towel.

"Who is it?" she said in an overly sweet voice.

"It's me," Said Cody's voice from the hallway outside. They didn't want to think that he was as unpleased as he sounded. They simultaneously excused it by the way the door muffled his voice, but they both knew that they heard right. Cody was not going to be as friendly as he was normally.

"We'll be there in a moment," she said only loudly enough for Cody to make out. He mumbled an okay in reply from the other side of the door with the same tone as before. They looked at each other worriedly then but they didn't allow themselves a lot of time for that.

They went to the bedroom they would soon begin to share. Grave found some typically black pants and he threw those on, he was still somewhat wet from the shower so he did not bother to put on a shirt yet. He decided that he would open the door since Joselyn was not half dressed yet.

Grave strode quickly to the front door so he would not keep Cody waiting for longer than they already had. He jabbed the button although that wasn't necessary and it wouldn't make the door open at all faster.

At first, when the door slid inside the wall Grave thought he was not looking at Cody, but his grumpy twin. He looked like a doppelganger of the pissy as it were. He was dressed normally of course, his hair was neat and his stance was normal, he did not have the air or the sagging features of somebody who had not known sleep, but his face was rather different. Cody looked angry, angry at _him_, and of course it was only then that he thought he should have let Joselyn answer the door.

"What's up?" Grave asked as if things were normal as a way to test that they weren't.

"I was wondering why the fuck you didn't tell me about this," Cody said bluntly and nearly had Grave taken aback.

Blunt Cody was also a change of pace. Normally Cody would do this in the way a mercenary might handle a mission. He could go inside looking only mildly troubled, accept courtesies like food and some such, and then he might segue into the primary objective. Instead he was just coming to his front door with a sour expression and jumping to the point like a redneck.

Something was amiss.

"Why don't you come in so you can tell me what you're talking about?" Grave said trying to sound as in the dark as he was. Cody's expression alone couldn't tell him if he was.

Cody came inside and went directly to the bar stool on the far end of the counter outside of their kitchen.

Grave padded his way around Cody and around the counter and into the kitchen. He knew that he would inevitably cook something this afternoon. But he wasn't expecting Cody for some reason. Normally he would, but sex was never part of his routine before. He expected more privacy simply because they had done it; it didn't occur to him that nobody else knew that they were doing that now.

It was no trouble though; they had enough food for everybody. But Grave still felt strange about it. He had never been wrong in this way before and it was hard for him to recognize it.

Joselyn was ready by then and was in the living room when Grave was sticking his head in the fridge. Her hair was again in her three braids and she had on the loosest outfit of sweat clothes she owned. Had Grave been looking in her direction they would have looked concernedly to each other again because of Cody.

Normally when Cody came to the apartment he would be lively with them. If she were in the bedroom she would hear her two men talking jovially about something. Sometimes they would stop speaking abruptly and she knew that they were talking about her. It was times like those when she hoped that Grave was hopeful about her.

Sometimes they would just talk about any other thing happening in the Garden, in which case she would just join the conversation as she entered the room. Today though neither of them spoke, not even Cody, when she sat down next to him she smiled for him and he looked at her but he did not smile back. Cody had not even taken off his jacket and shoes. Grave handed her a glass of milk since he knew that she would want one and she sipped it absently once.

What was so wrong with him that he didn't feel at home with them?

Joselyn took solace in the fact that Cody did not look completely angry. It was more, he looked like he was worried, but his worry was easily overridden by the anger. But still, she knew that Cody wasn't about to disown them, and certainly not without telling them what was wrong.

"What's bothering you Cody?" Joselyn said seriously, knowing that if she tried to sound sweet about it he would not respond well. She knew that look on Cody's face very well, the way she knew her own body, she had held that face before herself, so she was sure that she knew how to deal with Cody when he was this way.

But it was still startling for him to be like this with them.

Cody addressed Grave instead of Joselyn. "Why didn't you tell me about that transformation, you told Quistis but not me." Grave stopped in the fridge then, his hands were on a large container of strawberries. Grave takes his hands out of the fridge and closes the door; he has decided to let the food wait.

Grave turned around and looked unsure of what to say yet he wasn't surprised. He knew that with Cody behaving this way he would not be able to predict what Cody would ask, and he would not be able to expect anything that he could predict. Even Grave had very little experience dealing with Cody like this, it had happened before but his days of moodiness were few and far between.

Absently Grave wondered if Bridget knew how to do this, then he wondered if Cody was like this more often than he thought.

"Well, at first I didn't want anybody to know, it first happened the day Joselyn and I fought in the Training Center." Grave couldn't remember if he had told Joselyn this detail, but if he hadn't he decided that now was as good a time as any other time. "But then Joselyn's smell turned me back to normal when I did it again on our field exam, so she found out."

"Your smell?" Cody looked disbelievingly to Joselyn who smiled goofily and turned her eyes to another direction.

"Then Quistis found out when Joselyn and I did our demonstration videos…" he was about to go on about Quistis but Cody interrupted.

"And she analyzed your DNA for you, she told me that much."

"Well she said that it's my Special Skill."

"She said that too, she also said that you didn't change very much."

"When I smell it yeah," Grave paused but barely, "but when I drink it like I did on our mission then it changes me more apparently, it really depends on my intake of foreign blood cells."

Cody's eyebrows elevated such that he seemed to be judging Grave. "You had never done that before?" he almost looked startled, but they all knew that he wasn't really, they all knew that Grave would do something like that in a second if it seemed the right thing to do.

Joselyn thought that it was interesting how the conversation had become more conversational and less like an interrogation. Hopefully by the time Grave finished the part about how the different kinds of blood intake affect the transformation differently they would be back to friendly.

Joselyn used to think that it was his woodpecker knock, but now she knew that Cody was human like everybody else in the bad ways too. He could be perfectly unpleasant if he really needed to be. And at the most appropriate of times instead of the least. Joselyn almost laughed to herself when she thought about this. Cody was doing them a courtesy being pissy like this, almost; he had decided to approach them about it at what had to be the most appropriate time possible.

At least that aspect of this was typical of him.

"No, it was a gamble really; I was just hoping that I wouldn't lash out at you guys too." Grave shrugged, Cody thought that he was trying to hide something and he showed it with his face.

Cody asked the question then that even Joselyn hadn't. "Do you think you might have?" Joselyn felt different suddenly. She felt like she was being forced into something. It had occurred to her; subconsciously that Grave may have been simply rabid and therefore dangerous to her. But every time that thought came to her she would eschew it. She was afraid to ask him she thought, and she knew it.

Joselyn looked at Grave with Cody then, and they were all suddenly rather quiet. They had thought of it before, but they had never considered it seriously, none of them ever thought they would talk about it openly.

Grave felt the pressure from his friends but this gravity was not shrinking him a bit. He knew the answer, so he just said it. But his breath almost hitched in his throat when he said it because he was afraid of what his friends might say. They didn't notice.

"Yes, if I didn't have any self control then I think I would have killed everybody there."

Cody exhaled; none of them noticed he had taken in his breath. Cody was afraid? Of course he was afraid they all thought. Anybody would be afraid if they thought that their friend was keeping such important things from them, and if that friend might become a rabid monster that only existed to satisfy its pleasure for suffering.

"Is there anything else?" he asked almost quietly, he sounded more like himself now.

"Unless you want the details on the Special Skill then no, I think that's all." Grave didn't sound at all tired but his voice held some element of exhaustion. Admitting that he may have killed his friends after a six year old girl wasn't the easiest thing to admit, even for him.

"All right, I forgive you for not telling me all of this before." Joselyn was startled, but Grave just looked relieved.

"Thanks Cody, I was hoping you'd get over it quickly." Grave smiled a bit then, and his tone reminded Joselyn of another tone he took. It was very caring, like a sibling of tone he used when he asked her what was wrong while they were in the shower. But this wasn't sexual, just friendly.

And that moment they were friendly again, Cody proved that with his smile, he shrugged too and closed his eyes for a moment and thusly made an 'I can't help it' pose. "What can I say? I'm a forgiving guy."

"And I'm grateful for that," he said only to Cody, but when his tone changed again he was talking to both of them. "So what do you guys want?" Grave put his hands together and rubbed them as if it were actual preparation for cooking.

"Whatever," said Cody. "Something with those strawberries, they'll go bad if we don't eat them now." Grave might have said that was a sensible thing to say but he only reached into the fridge for said berries.

Cody took off his jacket and untied his shoes, he kicked his shoes to the area designated for footwear by the door and tossed his jacket on the coat rack with a spearman's accuracy.

Grave took a bottle of maraschino cherry syrup now empty of its cherries and the strawberries, he began cutting the strawberries into quarters and the cutting board and tossing them in a wide shallow bowl. They were quiet for a while then, they only enjoyed their recovered stable friendship. Cody was jovial again, but he was not impatient.

He waited until Grave had poured the syrup on the strawberries, Grave was in front of Joselyn on the other side of the counter. Joselyn is taking a nice long swig of her milk; it was in the middle of her drinking that Cody said it.

"So, you two are finally fucking now?"

It happened just as Cody had hoped. Joselyn literally did a spit take. It sprayed just right; it was just like a cleaning agent spewing from a spray bottle very much like mist. Joselyn covered her mouth quickly before she could spray the entire mouthful on her lover. Large droplets were hanging from her chin and her hand; she almost spat the rest of the milk when she laughed.

Grave had not budged for a moment, as Joselyn was spitting on him he seemed to have accepted it very calmly like it was a rejection for a job. He just stood there and took it. Now he seemed budded for the droplets of milk were the same shade of white as his skin. He seemed to be sweating his own body as if he were melting.

Cody laughed openly and smacked his hand on the counter triumphantly. Joselyn still sat there, she was not even motioning to the napkins, nor was she even reaching for them. She just sat there comically watching Graves grin widen by the second.

Grave did not answer at once, and with a mouthful of milk Joselyn wasn't saying anything at all. Grave swiped a napkin from the counter and wiped down his chest, he said nothing, but his smile said a million things.

"So," continued Cody, who had clearly been planning do this assuming everything went as well as it had "She obviously spits, does she swallow too?" at this Joselyn gave Grave a warning look, then she swallowed and wiped down her mouth with a napkin, but Grave was quicker.

Grave casually finished cleaning his torso and tossed the napkin in the garbage before answering Cody's question. "I don't know yet," he said a touch smugly, and then Joselyn's look of warning became more of an alarmed one. Her napkin followed his and then her whole attention was on Grave, even though all of this was Cody's fault.

This was great for Cody, for now he had a show to watch.

"Yet?" Joselyn said with a fine combination of certainty and incredulousness "We have not begun to _discuss_ oral sex boy." There was no emphasis on that last word but it was still duly noted by the corpse that wasn't.

The banter continued in that manner for the rest of the afternoon. Cody told them that he was not surprised that they were together now and was frankly surprised that it had not happened sooner. Somehow, to all them it changed nothing in their friendship. Cody would find that he was not left out for he had his own relationship to tend to. He would also find that in their company he would not be a third wheel.

Things were the same for the three as it had been ever since their friendship began. Although the humor was somewhat changed. At one point Grave pointed out that there was no whip cream left, and after a rather funny look from Cody he exclaimed that it wasn't what he thought. Meanwhile Joselyn had thought that it should probably become that way, and secretly Grave was thinking the same thing.

The fun would continue into the evening. This time when they went to the inauguration ceremony Grave would not be forced to wear the uniform he had dubbed 'his own Forbidden's tutu' and Joselyn would not be forced to wear a skirt as she had during their Field Exam.

Everything would be fine, until that evening. In the evening something would go disgustingly wrong.

_Sorry about the weak ending everybody. The disgustingly wrong thing was meant to happen in this chapter but I ended up working on this chapter less than I should have. Also I was offered a job this very day on the 23rd. And my grandmother died recently so I need to schlep up to Wisconsin with my mother for a week which will set me back in part eleven which bugs me. But then you'll get to know the crazy cool thing._


	11. New Lovers and Lovers Anew

_Disclaimer & A/N: I hereby admit that I own no part of Square-Enix and therefore do not own any of the characters or other features of Final Fantasy 8. I'm really sorry about that last chapter guys, I promise that this one will make up for it._

_I'm wanna tell ya how it's gonna be, you're gonna give you're love to me._

_I'm gonna love you night and day, love is love and not fade away._

_My love is bigger than a Cadillac, I'll try to show it if you drive me back._

_You're love for me has got to be real, for you to have noticed just how I feel._

_Love real and not fade away,_

_Well love real and not fade away._

_Yeah._

_(Harmonica solo)_

_I'm wanna tell ya how it's gonna be, you're gonna give you're love to me._

_Love that lasts more than one day, love real and not fade away._

_Well love is real and not fade away, well love is real and not fade away_

_Well love is real and not fade away, well love is real and not fade away._

_Not fade away, not fade away._

_Not Fade Away by The Rolling Stones_

**Part Eleven: New Lovers & Lovers Anew**

**Men Who Can't Wait Any Longer**

Savior is alone in the center of the PesticidE's quarters. He stands in the center of the 'kata circle' which is a slightly pink beige platform made of rubber, it is covered in thin but fluffy cotton cloth so that there is no injury if the one training should fall over. The platform is located to the left of the elevator, it is away from the other features of the area like the rooms and the lockers as well as a closet that Xu likes to call her second office. She doesn't ever let anybody inside so Savior likes to joke that it's actually a toilet. When he has suggested that with her present she makes a face that indicates that he may be right.

The other PesticidE's are in their rooms and Xu is in her first office on the third floor. He has total privacy. Savior can now align his chakra's, open his third eye, cross his legs in an unnecessarily painful manner become one with the sword, there are no noises to bother him and interrupt the quiet.

And that bothers him.

Savior has not changed in his whole life in that he cannot work in this kind of quiet. When there is no activity around him he is hard pressed to be active himself. He prefers to be around people so that he can be active; Savior has always preferred to be active. Savior does not sleep very much and when he is not asleep he always has a sufficient amount of energy to go on a mission.

Perhaps he is a born soldier, perhaps he is still a child in his heart, and he thinks that if these things are true then they are only part of the matter. He admits to himself that he is in fact always eager to rush in to a brutal conflict to lop off heads. He always has the energy, but it is not only the energy of a born warrior, and it is not only the energy of a child who doesn't want to finish growing up after he has the body of a man.

Most of his fire is suppressed sexual energy and he knows it.

Savior understands that it is somewhat awful of him to do this but he blames Quistis for this and he thinks it's rightly so. It is not only the fact that she has never done anything to make him orgasm, more than anything it was the way she would build him up, and the part where she would not touch his cock was simply the lid on the bottle.

Quistis had offered subtly and blatantly to do things for him but he had refused each time contrary to his baser urges. He almost felt like he was disappointing some internal crowd cheering for him to go for it. But he felt that he shouldn't do it no matter how much he wanted too. He knew that if he took off his pants, then his helmet would probably be next.

But despite this he could not stop seeing her entirely. And so with each visit Quistis would further build the pressure in him. And when he left he would feel startlingly energetic, which would lead him to the same spot where he was now, often at the same time when everybody else was in their own personal quarters with their own devices and frustrations.

In this way the last visit to Quistis' bed was the worst one and the best one. It was the first time he had gone so far as to give Quistis an orgasm. Normally they would do little more than what they had done in their beginning, on the night of the last SeeD inauguration. He would feel her breasts, and sometimes she would reach under his coat and pants to squeeze his ass, but the last time was different.

It is always hard when you are partaking in this kind of activity but trying not to cross a certain line. While you're kissing your lovers tongue and pulling on certain regions of their skin, you can't help but think of the parts that you haven't explored yet. Especially those parts that we keep hidden to the public, and even after we've seen and touched them we can't stop thinking about our lovers loins.

It was this way with them from the beginning, but the last visit was the one that sent him over the edge. There is always such a night, Savior knew it but he didn't admit that he and Quistis would have such a night until it finally happened.

_**L**_

They were in a position that had become normal to them. They were on Quistis' bed, Savior was mostly clothed with his coat open and his shirt opened –he had taken to buttoned shirts after that first night when she had cut his shirt apart- he wore no gloves. Quistis was sitting in his lap with her bare back against his chest, her hands were on his and she directed his kneading on her breasts.

As per usual they lost track of time as they did this. They had already told each other their news and had rambled to each other as lovers love to do. Then they of course segued in to this little ritual and then they simply forgot about everything else. She would always moan a little, and she would gasp shortly whenever he chose to pinch a nipple or two. But this time she was different. She was pressing her back against him harder then she normally did, and her intake of breath had a different rhythm to it. She breathed more rapidly and rubbed her ass against his erection as if she hoped it would rip through all of the fabric of its own accord.

Quistis must have been hoping that she could break him because she did not stop for a long time. Although Saviors sense of time was essentially shot he still knew that it had taken Quistis a very long time to give up yet again. He felt that it was a great effort however, and he feared that if he simply continued what they did normally that he would kill the mood and possibly sour her, so he went farther that night. It was not terribly much farther but it was still farther, he thought that he managed to buy himself more time inside his pants.

He spared one of his hands from one breast –which he was concerned had become cold when he let go, but he only thought of that distantly- and he ran it down her stomach, and like an animal trying to nose its way through a doorway he wiggled his fingers under her skirt until his entire hand was under the fabric.

At this Quistis had spread her legs apart for him. She giggled a little bit when he realized that he had actually wiggled his way in between her panties and her skirt instead of to her flesh. But she didn't giggle too much, she had feared that she would ruin the mood and that he would take his hand away entirely.

Once he had his fingers in her pubic hair and he knew that he was where he wanted to be, he stopped, and gave attention to her breast more. She almost hissed at him to move his other hand but he did not spend so long on her breast after that, he only wanted a touch more suspense for her.

He found her warm slippery skin and slipped fingers in to her at once. So different a gasp she made this time, the pleasure in the breasts are more of a snack compared to the lower regions. He did not thrust with fingers; he tried instead a beckoning motion which got the desired sounds from her mouth. He was sure that she would get bored of this but still he moved his fingers to the outside and pressed hard into her labia, and then he tried to develop some sort of pattern for rubbing her pussy so that she did not become quiet.

Quistis bucked and crushed her body so hard against his back that she nearly suffocated him between her and the wall. He did not stop until she came, and once he did stop she put her free hand down her skirt with his and made him keep going until she came again.

_**L**_

And so here he stood, alone with his erection and a cinema quality memory of Quistis trying to back her cunt against his hand. He had not even begun his kata, he still didn't like katas. He had only taken his sword from his room, and brought it to the kata circle and he stood there. He had not budged, he only fantasized about what he had wanted to do that day, how he wanted to simply rip off his mask and his pants and do what she really wanted.

He couldn't begin to train; his mind was firmly set inside both ends of Quistis. He might not even be able to concentrate in an actual fight.

He could masturbate, he knew, and he could go to her again and simply cuddle in the most erotic way possible that technically wasn't sex. But to have those things separately simply doesn't offer the release, the relief from having both at the same time. If he did it himself he would have relief but it wouldn't last, and it wouldn't be enough. He might be able to concentrate more but he would not quite be at his peak.

Savior would not say it out loud, but as much as he wanted to sleep with Quistis, he wanted somebody to beat him. He wanted to be defeated and spared by a legitimate enemy he only wanted to take off his mask and blab to the world. Then he would have no qualms with doing what he and Quistis really wanted. Then he wouldn't have to look back and say that he made a mistake if things went badly after the mask came off.

He wanted so badly to have somebody to pin the blame too, he admitted this to himself as well and he was not one bit ashamed.

The elevator made the sound that it was descending. Savior suddenly thought that he should begin to move, but he knew that it was Xu, and she would probably guess how long he had been there. Then she would guess how far in to his kata he was because she knew each one he did and more.

Xu had been the one to teach them to him. Each kata that he knew he learned as a PesticidE.

It would be rather embarrassing to be caught by her in this position even if he didn't have the obvious erection jutting inside his sweatpants. And because of this he abandoned the kata which he had planned to do but forgot about so that he might goof off instead.

Savior turned his back to the elevator door and began spinning his weapon out to one side. He twirled it ten times before moving it to the front of him; he would repeat this pattern on all sides of him even after Xu finished speaking with him and went into her office to do whatever it was she did.

Savior smirked to himself as the elevator door opened and he thought this; she could just use the toilet in her apartment, its closer after all.

"You'll never improve if you just goof off," Xu said as she stepped out of the elevator.

"Who said I need improvement?" he said with mock arrogance which he found easy to summon.

"I'll always think you need improvement," she said offhandedly. The sound of the verb in the room had not changed; she was stopped in front of the elevator, which could only mean that she actually needed to speak with him.

Well crap.

"And I'll always think you need a social life, what do you want?" he sounds more bitter than he feels and it makes the conversation sound like a normal one for them.

Savior is imagining the very same scowl that Xu is wearing now. "My social life is fine, and you're one to talk since you hardly talk to the people who get to see your face. And the reason I'm talking to you is serious so you'll have to face me."

Savior turned around begrudgingly and he did look Xu in the face. He continued to spin his sword to his side absently –he wondered if Xu was trying to will him to drop it. He knew that she wanted his full attention would mean he would quit swinging his weapon, and she knew that. But they both knew that he wouldn't be terribly distracted, and she needed to prepare for the SeeD inauguration that night so she let him go.

"Everybody is invited to join the party tonight as usual, you'll be telling them that." She didn't need to say that and they both knew it, she just wanted to make him feel like an errand boy. "But there is actually something serious."

Savior stopped swinging his sword; he held it behind him and listened. It was her tone that told him that she was being respectful suddenly, and she was only genuinely respectful towards him when something very important was happening. He could only think of a handful of times when she spoke to him like this.

"We've detected Galbadia Garden, and no matter how we maneuver they follow us, we haven't even shaken them off of the radar."

Whatever parts of Savior that might have still been moving did nothing for a minute after Xu told him that. Suddenly that eagerness for battle he was thinking about was not feeling so powerful.

"So it's finally going to happen?" They were being so strangely serious now. They thought absently if their seriousness with one another was being suppressed everyday as they bickered, as she gave orders and as he received them.

"Without a doubt, there's no way we can lose them now and they're certainly not going to stop chasing us. It's happening soon, and it will probably be too soon to call for reinforcement from Esthar or T-Garden although I'm still hopeful. Tonight is the last night we'll have like this…" he could tell that she was struggling to finish the sentence but her pause implied too much doom, which she was privately yet obviously ashamed of feeling.

"Until after we've buried our enemy," he finished for her. Xu did feel momentarily annoyed that he said it first but she knew that he was trying to be nice for once. It made her feel uncomfortably the way Quistis must feel with him but she let it slide. "Yes," she closed her eyes and took a quick deep breath, then she looked at him again. "That's right, so I advise you to have as much fun tonight as you can."

At this Savior raised his eyebrows inquiringly, and she only mirrored him as if to say, yes, this is what I mean, I will not bother you about this anymore.

"She'll be waiting for you, she has a really good idea, hope you don't embarrass yourself when she tells you." Xu apparently had no other business on that level of the Garden because she turned around abruptly and went back into the elevator. She didn't turn back around. The elevator doors closed and she was taken above him. Savior did not move for a long time.

Galbadia Garden is finally coming, he thought. This was the manner of thing that you know will happen someday, but you don't quite accept it. You believe that since you don't know when it will happen that it will not happen for a long time. You think that you can put off accepting the inevitable for a time when you think that you will be better mentally prepared for it.

Savior realized then that he had never fully accepted the fact that they would eventually oppose G-Garden again. But he knew it; he could even feel it somehow. He also thought that things would be different on B-Gardens end when it finally happened. For one thing he always thought that the leader would be present. He also hoped that by then he could have a larger collection of PesticidEs.

Doesn't this always seem to be the way of things? You hope naively that you can wait for a great tragedy that you are perfectly informed of until you're ready for it. But this way of thinking will always leave unprepared for when it drops in to your lap like so much fiery bird shit.

_We aren't ready for this,_ he thought.

Xu was right, tonight would be there last night for the fun of a party, and it may be the last night for the pleasures away from a party…

Savior entertained the idea of approaching Quistis upstairs with only his coat on but only momentarily.

He decided then that they would need to accept that they may not survive. True, they had magic and the Guardian Forces at their disposal. But the Galbadian Forces were legendary, especially since they took G-Garden. Their numbers combined with their artillery and their AI war machines could prove powerful to B-Garden, it would probably prove to even be overwhelming.

_But this isn't my last night alive,_ he thought. _We may yet survive this even though we'll have no idea how to deal with this enemy._

Savior couldn't decide if he should simply resort to enjoying life more than ever tonight or if he should drill all of the PesticidEs so that they would be further prepared for their upcoming battle. So that they may be able to survive or even win.

Savior would never do his kata for the night; he would likely never do a kata again. He would not even goof off or practice in any other manner. Savior, for a long time just stood in the kata circle, cursing the silence for freezing his desire for activity.

_**EG**_

It is currently daytime on Balamb Garden's side of the planet. But in Deling City it is predictably night time. There is a saying that says there is always a sorceress living in Deling who chooses to make it darker earlier and for a longer amount of the day. Sixty seven percent of people in Deling believe that is true.

That Sorceress has the Ostentat mansion in a particularly dark circle this afternoon. Sixteen years ago, when she was born, the sorceress involuntarily began casting this darkness over her city. When she was a young girl she found that if she thought about it hard enough she could make it brighter if need be. This was how she discovered her power, and all her life she would never tell anybody.

Even after she discovered her power the sorceress rarely made it lighter in her city. All her life she would prefer to make the city as dark as she could, as long as she could without raising too much suspicion. She wanted this phenomenon to seem natural, that would make it more special to her.

As she aged the young sorceress discovered other little things that she could do. She need only gesture with her fingers to operate the light switches and the faucets, and other things of that nature. She could blow in a candle with the same amount of effort she gave to blow one out. She could even float above the water of her pool and force herself down quickly to create an even larger splash.

And she discovered big things too. When she closed her eyes and thought very strongly on the space where some body's brain belonged she could make it operate differently and make them say things that they didn't actually mean to say. Her father was her favorite victim for this trick.

The sorceress was a very powerful and rich young girl. She grew up without worries and gradually came to understand and enjoy the kind of power that anybody could have been born with. Somebody who deserved it or needed it more could have just as easily inherited it from their planet. But it happened to her, and she abused it, but she didn't get to grow up to abuse it as an adult.

When the sorceress was thirteen she was killed in her sleep. It was her first night of puberty. She died because a much more powerful entity entered her mind and erased all of the electrical currents in her brain. Then they were replaced by the energy of that entity. The body of this thirteen year old girl had been made a puppet. This girl who had never done anything severe to anybody, and who never was given the chance to when she was older, she became somebody's back up plan.

Cornucopia Ostentat's bare feet pad the carpet of the long hallway leading to Mr. Ostentat's study. He always expects to see her at this hour; he has for the past three years. He doesn't completely understand who he is talking to anymore, and in the past three years he hasn't noticed yet that his daughter is gone. He is so mesmerized by her replacement.

Cornucopia opens up the door quietly and sees Mr. Ostentat look up from his paperwork expectantly. Although he is playing with half a deck he still functions as he always had. Nobody would expect him to be the father of a dead child, especially when they see him walk with her body in the park in the newspapers every other week, when he is seen with the animated body of his daughter.

"What do you need from me mistress, is it finally the time?" he always asks about this, he says it to her like a servant, he sounds like a grateful servant with a crush not entirely thought through.

"Yes Frederick, it is time, the battle is coming and I need you with me. You will need to tell the people that you are going away for a while, some tropical place or some such I don't care." She waves her hand to the side offhandedly to emphasize her point.

"I know just the place," he said overly excitedly, he found another set of papers to attend to immediately; they must have been for such a vacation.

Cornucopia walks down the three steps and in to the actual study. She walks around Frederick Ostentat's large desk and places her hands on his shoulders, she looks over his shoulder to place he is planning to lie about. The moment her hands come to his shoulders he stops working, he is like an underling who feels unworthy but excited by her touch. He is these things.

"Keep working," she states in the least loving manner that does not sound harsh. He begins work again like he is being controlled. The expression on his face that she feels but doesn't see has not changed, and he continues to feel paralyzed by her exquisite touch but his arms move, and his brain operates to fill in the paperwork in just the right way.

Cornucopia is surprised that the human could make such a fine decision. People would believe he was there, certainly. Nobody but her would really know where he was. For even he never quite knew where he was anymore. His every thought was filled with this thing inside his daughter, and one time this thing having him inside his daughter. It was after that only time he became this way.

The paperwork was finished shortly. She watched him selected an envelope and fill it; lick it shut, and then he wrote the appropriate addresses and stamped it. It was dropped in his box labeled OUT and was left by him as good as forgotten. He couldn't be entirely sure that he wrote it at all.

She steps back two feet behind him and says, "Stand," he stands obediently, she is having him move as if he is mechanized because she has come to enjoy that movement. In all the time that she has spent in Galbadia she has come to appreciate machines used in war almost as much as she has the magic beasts of her own creation. Sometimes she will make men move this way for her amusement.

The humans may as well be machines after all.

The office chair between them rolls aside and out of her way. She approaches his back and Cornucopias arms wrap around her fathers waist. She snuggles her face in to his back sexually and considers using this body again.

"And to the Garden we go," she says quietly to her self, and he mouths along with her because he wishes she were speaking directly to him.

There is a distortion beneath them. The carpet beneath their feet ripples like water and wish each ripple the reality is torn apart and liquefies to black and dark purple. Their bodies sink gradually in to the inter-dimensional muck and in moments they are gone.

They feel nothing, Frederick Ostentat ignores all feeling for concern that he is not worthy to feel anything, not worthy to feel his mistress's power, he believes that he is not worthy to feel his mistress's body.

Cornucopia Ostentat's lips smile; she feels her magic like she will feel the warm flesh of her enemies soon. She feels it surrounding her like water in a pool; she loves the liquid energy of the universe that will soon be hers to change.

She hopes that she can change everything. But first she needs absolute power, which means that she must destroy everything. She must defeat the SeeD's and make them into other things. The same way she made Frederick a blithering fool with a crush on his daughter's dead body.

When they are gone nobody will notice for a few days. And in those few days there may not be a room to find nothing in.

**Esper Activity**

Fujin had never felt this exhausted after a mission of such minimal activity. There were literally no times when she had fought anything on this mission. Yet now she felt she could hibernate until the next SeeD inauguration came in a few months. After several hours of reflection she remembered the first part of her mission, when she had trudged through the snow of a random Trabian location to the Shumi Village. Upon remembering the beginning of her mission she decided to cut herself some slack. But she still felt strange.

It was not normal for Fujin to feel any less than normal after a mission. Her fatigue was always saved for the nights during her missions. Coming home she would feel normal; while she was home she would feel normal. She felt like she was thrown off kilter somehow. She hoped that when she was back in the Training Center she would be sufficiently aware of her surroundings and the cadets whom she was supposed to look after.

The Whelp landed and began shutting down in the B-Garden hangar as she reflected her mission this way. The moment the aircraft was settled and when the hatch opened Fujin undid her restraints. She was the first one of the three to exit the Whelp; the cockpit opened once she was beside the aircraft and looked upon the occupants.

Fujin was not at all happy with most of the thoughts which had occupied her during the trip from the orphanage and back to B-Garden. She wondered with her absence in the cockpit if Raijin and Terra were conversing. Jealousy boiled up in her chest when she thought about them speaking overly pleasantly. Fujin herself had only managed to snatch a few pleasantries like berries and honey from Terra. She was imagining Terra enjoying Raijin's company more than hers and it made her angry, and thinking this made her angry at herself.

The whole time she spent in the passenger compartment she planned how to find out if that were happening. The intercom between the passenger compartment and the cockpit was not designed to be kept on for a long time. You would flip the switch, speak, release the switch, and then you would wait for a reply from the other end. So eavesdropping was out –she felt especially ashamed that she was willing to stoop down to eavesdropping, hobby of depraved women of small neighborhoods everywhere.

Fujin imagined that if she got out before them and was there to see the cockpit open she would be able to judge how things were in there. She imagined the developed atmosphere of Raijin and Terra escaping from the cockpit like steam coming from a pot as the lid is removed. She thought that she would be able to judge it by the way it felt. The desperateness of this and the animosity she was feeling toward Raijin about this sickened her but she couldn't help her self.

When the hatch did open she thought that she could identify something of the nature of what she had imagined. For a moment she felt that she was mistaken about that ability, that she was just full of shit and desperate to know more about the green haired woman. But she swore she was identifying something. It was only that it was so… lukewarm, medium. It was as if they had not conversed at all but resorted to unfamiliar silence.

Fujin hoped that she was right about this. A situation where Raijin is romantically successful with somebody who she wanted would be too awkward for their sibling like friendship. She had never given much thought to the possibility that this would happen. She was sure that they would both either remain single forever or they would simply find the people who were right for them.

That was when it occurred to Fujin that muff diving may not have been Terra's idea of fun. That thought was rather depressing but it was possibly true, so she shifted it to the back of her skull so that she might tackle that issue at another time when she would think she could handle it.

Raijin leapt from his seat and Terra descended slowly to the ground respectfully. Raijin clicked the button of a hand held device and the cockpit closed behind them. Raijin had leapt to the other side of the cockpit and was making his way around to her. Terra descended to land just in front of Fujin. She looked to her expectantly and Fujin knew what she wanted to do and how urgent it was.

"We can provide you with a room while you stay here," she said thinking it would be important for her to know that before she spoke about her reason to be there.

"That's good," she said as if it wasn't important. "I would like to speak with my father." If she were anybody else Fujin might have thought that Terra was hostile towards her when saying that, as if it were her fault that she hadn't spoken to her father yet. But Terra seemed too reasonable an entity to behave that way.

Fujin wanted to say something like 'at once' or 'of course' but a question came to her and she thought that she would need to clear it up before she made Terra's arrangement. "Is there a way for you to communicate with him while he's inside the SeeD? Because I don't think that they would agree to set him completely free." Terra looked suddenly unhappy at that, and Fujin hoped that she hadn't drawn Terra's last straw for her comrades and home.

"There is a way." Without asking Fujin if she was interested in knowing how the process worked Terra grabbed Fujin's hand.

Fujin was delighted that Terra was voluntarily going to touch her skin but she still felt rather apprehensive about it, which was why she felt very bad with herself when she went rigid and took her hand back the moment Terra grabbed her hand.

Once they touch it was unlike when Terra sat in her lap. They had not been skin to skin during that flight which must have been the reason they hadn't felt this sensation then. Fujin knew she would have recognized this; this feeling was too distinctive to miss.

When Terra's fingers went around Fujin's hand Fujin literally felt her inner flesh _rippling_. She couldn't be entirely sure if it was an ectoplasmic happening but felt so much like it was really in her flesh. Not in just _in_ her flesh but actually being her flesh.

It felt like nothing she'd ever felt before, but it wasn't painful. It was just a powerful unfamiliar sensation and obviously a reaction to Terra's body.

This woman became more and more amazing to Fujin by the minute.

When Fujin looked to Terra again she looked less startled by Fujin's behavior and more surprised and interested by the very thing that had startled Fujin. She was examining her hand as if she had something on it, and she looked to Fujin's hand as well. They caught eyes again and Terra chose to be the first speaker. Raijin came around the Whelp at about this time.

"You felt that too?" she inquired interestedly, there was not a wrinkle of concern on her face.

"Yes, what was it?" Fujin asked more urgently then was normal for her.

"It was…" Terra had to think for a moment, Fujin looked very expectantly to her, and Raijin went ignored and confused beside the two women. Finally Terra answered.

"A surprise," she said obviously keeping every single detail to her self, her tone said that she knew exactly what happened and what this meant.

Fujin's eyebrow twitched violently and involuntarily for a couple of seconds. For the first time Fujin felt annoyed with Terra. She reasoned that it was bound to happen eventually, especially because of her little crush.

Fujin composed her self and made sure that she wouldn't sound hostile toward the beautiful half woman. "Would you care to enlighten me a bit more than that?" she asked politely, and to her joy Terra did not look offended.

"I'd rather explain in private," this was the first indication that they were still aware that Raijin was around, he was not offended. There was something else to this though, Terra seemed almost… happy about it, excited even. Suddenly Fujin felt she couldn't wait although she knew that she would have to.

"But later, I want to show you how this will work," she paused after she held out her hand. "If you know what I will be doing it will establish trust, you can explain it to them before I do it so that they know I will not harm them."

Fujin thought she would have thought of that herself but she was still impressed that Terra would think so far in to this to take the SeeD's concerns in to consideration. Raijin excused him self and went to the back room to intercom, he would announce their arrival to the proper people.

"Would you rather I tell everybody about this, you wouldn't have to converse with so many people that way" Fujin said before she would put her hand out, this seemed like yet another important thing to touch base on to her.

"Yes, I would appreciate that Fujin, thank you." Her hand stayed out in front of her, she clearly thought this was too important.

Fujin licked her upper lip and put her hand against Terra's again. They felt the sensation again but this time neither one let go. After a few moments the rippling sensation stopped, just as ripples in water will eventually stop. Although their hands felt still, they felt it was only still like a lake without wind. They thought that movement, or perhaps something else could easily cause the sensation to happen again.

"Greetings from the Half-Esper Terra," when Terra spoke Fujin felt the words travel through her body and inside her, it traveled up her arm and through her chest, up her neck and finally inside her brain. And once it her a certain point in her brain it stopped, the message had been received, she felt it that way.

The same thing happened in reverse then, she felt the same energy travel from her brain and out her mouth and she spoke involuntarily. "Terra," Fujin spoke with two voices then and it alarmed her. The first voice she knew was her own, but the second one she had never heard. But though she had never heard it she knew it could only be the voice of her Esper Pandemona.

"Yes Pandemona," Terra said friendlily. "It was been too long"

"It has been even longer for your father, his harborer came back yesterday." That was Fujin's confirmation that the Espers could sense one another. It was true that she believed Terra when she was told but she had not been given anything concrete. If Pandemona was telling her about this then it must have been true.

"If he is here then I must speak with him as soon as possible, perhaps we could catch up later." Fujin was surprised at how polite conversing went quite the same way with Espers as it tended to with humans -except she believed that Terra and Pandemona actually would want to speak later.

"Of course Terra, I will speak with you another time." And like a caller hanging up Fujin could feel Pandemona disconnect and Terra let go of Fujin's hand. Fujin at once felt different, not quite back to normal, but at least now she didn't feel like a tube.

"So, do you think that you could explain that to the person I will be speaking through?" Terra asked very frankly.

Fujin wasn't quite sure how to say it at first. "Well, no. But I do think I could explain that it doesn't hurt. That should be good enough."

Terra nodded, she still seemed unusually pleased. Or perhaps this was her being normal; Fujin reflected that she had not known the woman long enough to judge what was normal for her.

"Quistis is coming, she said that there's an open room in the cadet quarters ya know?" Fujin smiled about Raijin, already he was warming up to his public speech pattern. She was reminded that she may need to do that her self despite Terra's presence. Maybe she could explain her behavior to Terra if she took interest. She would feel better about it if Terra knew why she was speaking that way with other people all the time.

Fujin noted normal she felt so quickly after Terra's communicating with her Esper. Normally when somebody engaged in magic activity they would feel strange for a long time before they continued doing it and got used to it. Eventually the sensation in your arms when casting magic seemed to go away even though it happened every time. It became normal and so you wouldn't ever think about it. The same was true for summoning Espers except that had an affect on your whole body.

Casting magic left you feeling like you had been stirred internally. It wasn't painful unless if you would cast wrong and halted the spell inside your body, but casting it normally felt strange at first. But of course that sensation was second nature and so it was like it never happened in the casters mind.

The sensation of fading away when summoning an Esper was entirely different. Someone who hadn't been trained for it from a young age might go insane if they summoned. The normal human brain cannot comprehend very well the concept of existing without a body. It required years of mental preparation before somebody could handle summoning something. You needed to understand and believe that it was only a precaution on the Espers part to keep you safe while it did its work.

These two reactions with Terra startled her because of this. This simply wasn't normal

–although that was apparently to be expected of Terra. But none the less it still confused Fujin.

Fujin had never done these things; she had never known Terra before. And yet their bodies were reacting as if it was perfectly natural to them already. This had to mean that the magic was already in both of them somehow.

Fujin knew that Terra knew what this was. And she was willing to be somewhat rude if that was what it might take to get the answers from her.

Fujin wanted to be questioning Terra now but over Terra's shoulder she saw Quistis coming in. So she stepped to one side and saluted. To this Terra turned around to see who Fujin was acknowledging and was greeted by one of Quistis Trepe's more pleasant smiles.

"At ease Fujin, there's no need to salute me if there aren't any cadets around." Fujin assumed her normal stance then and lost virtually all of Quistis' attention due to Terra.

Quistis looked on Terra admiringly. Fujin didn't notice it so much, but Terra felt a certain kind of satisfied avarice coming from the blonde woman. And she knew that it was because of her coming to her.

Terra suddenly became bitter again and Quistis tried to not notice. "My name is Quistis Trepe; I'm the temporary Commander of this establishment." Quistis held out her hand not realizing that Espers did not share the formality that was a handshake. Terra only looked at the hand and turned around. She moved away from Quistis and touched Fujin on the shoulder. Fujin tried to ignore how pleasant the touch was and realized she was being signaled to deal with Quistis for her.

Quistis looked very disappointed but made no move to speak to Terra again. Her attention was now on Fujin; she had also recognized the touch to be a signal that she wanted Fujin to speak for her. Quistis was reminded of wrestling when somebody was tagged in. She didn't want to think that Terra thought her an enemy. This time Fujin spoke first.

Fujin cleared her throat with a coughing gesture before she spoke. "UNHAPPY, WITH SEED." Quistis' face fell for a moment but she quickly looked simply bothered. She closed her eyes.

"Fuck," she said quietly but harshly.

Fujin said nothing; apparently Quistis had been anticipating Terra's arrival very much. Eventually Quistis opened her eyes and spoke again. "If she's unhappy with us then why did she come with you, she seems to have come willingly." Fujin knew she was talking about the touch on her shoulder. She almost thought that Quistis was feeling a bit spiteful but she overlooked it.

"MADUIN," Fujin decided to elaborate without trying to read Quistis' face "COMMUNICATION."

Fujin knew that Quistis would jump to the conclusion before she even said it so she planned her reply as Quistis spoke to her. "You don't mean that we need to free Maduin do you?" she continued as if Fujin had confirmed that. "I can't authorize that Fujin we've never done that before we don't know what will happen…" Fujin placed one hand over Quistis' mouth before she could offend Terra. Normally Fujin would not dare interrupt a superior in such a way but it seemed the only way to effectively shut Quistis up.

Fujin waited for Quistis to register that Fujin needed to interject her before she said, "NO NEED." And she took her hand away. Quistis looked thoughtful for a moment but not satisfied.

"You mean to say that we don't need to free him?" Quistis sounded very skeptical, it was the kind of skeptical that was so adamant it may not give up even after it was proved wrong. But Fujin needed to try anyway.

"YES."

Quistis became very quiet. "Are you sure that we can trust her? If she's not happy with us she could be trying to trick us, she may also be hostile." Fujin felt a prick of resentment at this, if she didn't understand why Quistis was acting this way she might have wanted to punch the woman.

"TRUST HER." She enunciated very clearly to hint to Quistis the hostility that she may have felt towards her. "TRUST US." She thought that if she matched Quistis' skepticism with equal determination on her part she may be able to win the argument. Although it wasn't everyday you could persuade a superior.

However Fujin thought she had a good idea of how important Terra was to Quistis. She may have had the upper hand without having confirmed that. Quistis didn't reply again at once but she was licking her lower lip thoughtfully, she was also looking out of the corners of her eyes and behind her back she was probably twiddling her fingers. All of these were signs that she was conflicting internally. Fujin smiled internally.

Quistis' eyes snapped up to Fujin again. "I need to speak with Xu about this first," she said then marched to the room where Raijin still stood. He's probably trying to give me privacy with Terra, she thought. _The thoughtful oaf,_ she thought and smiled about him while she still wasn't facing anybody.

Fujin felt Terra trying to get her attention with a hand on her shoulder and she was very happy with her self when she didn't react outwardly to the touch. She turned around to face Terra and was pleased that she didn't take her hand away at once. Unfortunately the hand didn't stay there as Terra spoke.

"I was wondering Fujin why you speak that way with everybody but…" Terra's brow furrowed and Fujin found that impossibly cute.

"Raijin?" Fujin clarified.

"Yes, Raijin." Terra smirked a bit which Fujin found impossibly arousing. "I wonder why you don't speak that way with Raijin and I, or why you don't simply speak normally to everybody." If it were anybody else asking this then Fujin might have simply barked at her and strolled away for important business, but this was Terra.

It had happened, Terra had expressed interest in her speech pattern, and she seemed to notice that she was somehow special. Rather she had noticed before, no doubt, but now it mattered to her that she was special somehow. For a brief moment Fujin's brain abandoned reason and joined in the hope that her heart and loins shared.

"Um," she began without having a sentence to continue with, she licked her lips very quickly –partially to see if Terra would watch her tongue move, but those eyes stayed on hers. Fujin looked out the corner of her eyes hoping she might see something to say away from Terra's face and she saw Quistis. She was approaching them again from the radio room; her face was hard to read.

"Is it already if I tell you later, privately?" Fujin whispered quickly and Terra smiled and nodded understandingly. She would possibly never tell Fujin but in that moment she found her looking funny, with Quistis fast approaching and hasting to speak to her as if she were afraid that she would get in trouble.

"All right." Quistis said with mixed feelings that the other pair of women didn't care enough to interpret. "Xu gave the okay, is it all right if it happens before the inauguration tonight?" Fujin looked to Terra who for the first time seemed excited the way humans were, she nodded, and Fujin thought that she almost spoke to Quistis herself.

"WONDERFUL." Fujin said with mirth that Quistis was not ready to see on her acquaintances face.

"Good, I'll send the girl with Maduin to the cadet room where you'll be staying in a half hour." Quistis did realize that Terra was not interested in speaking with her but none the less she felt it would be strange and overly rude on her part to talk about her as if she weren't in front of her. "This is the room key." As she handed Fujin the card Quistis couldn't help but feel a bit like a hotel clerk, she shrugged the feeling off.

"Fujin," Quistis began on a different note, Fujin looked more interested in tending to Terra's needs but Quistis still had to send her away. "Welcome home, you may not think that we worried about you but when one of ours is taken away by mysterious light we can't help but worry." Quistis was the one to dare put her hand on Fujin's shoulder, she only distantly thought about Fujin snapping off her arm for touching her and she did not worry about it.

Without being thusly hostile Fujin put a hand on Quistis' hand. "THANK YOU, HOME." Fujin smirked for Quistis as she never did and patted her hand. Quistis took her hand away and turned back to Terra, still thinking it would be more appropriate to speak directly to her than just to Fujin.

"Fujin will take you to your room and I will bring your father to you shortly." Quistis did not wait to be thanked and left at once.

Raijin was with them again as the door closed behind Quistis. "I'll be back in the room Fu, it was nice meeting you Terra." Raijin offered his large hand and Terra actually took it, her hands were the same size as Fujins and her fingers just managed to wrap around the dark mans palm.

"You are a charming human Raijin." Beneath the brown of his skin Fujin noticed a certain amount of pink and she sympathized with the man wholly. Raijin was the next to leave, leaving Fujin and Terra standing alone in the Hangar.

They did nothing for a moment, and Fujin was embarrassed that the next course of action had slipped her mind.

"We should go to the room?" asked Terra knowing that was what they would do, there was that mirthfulness again, that bit of hope.

"Yes," she said as if she didn't have to feel embarrassed, and she led her from the hangar. She would not look at the room number on the key at once, and so they wandered the dormitory corridors for longer than would have been necessary. Terra did not complain.

_**EG**_

Quistis was dreading knocking on Grave and Joselyn's door the entire walk to their room. Most of her was actually excited because she knew she would see fascinating magic never seen by human eyes before. It would surely be a good show to see how Terra would speak with her father without the need to release him from Joselyn. But she was still a bit wary of knocking on that door for an unrelated reason.

She had no idea how long those two would spend in the shower. She also had no idea if they would continue their love play after getting out of the shower. Scenarios were playing through her head where the pair would answer the door naked and sweaty, with their hands in… places.

Quistis was anything but frigid, but watching other people being sexual with each other was not her thing. Thoughts of sex were of her self and whatever imaginary man she felt like conjuring. So the thought that they would be semi naked or something to that effect was embarrassing her somewhat from taking a greeting.

Her concern was stopped at once however because when she made it to the door she heard laughter, and it was group laughter at that. Cody must have shown up. Quistis had no fear now for she was sure that, although she knew nothing about Grave and Joselyn's turns on, she was sure that Cody was not included in them.

Quistis rapped on the door loudly and heard the laughter die down to giggles and the sound of tall legs making their way to the door. Quistis for the second time that day was greeted by Joselyn but this time she was fully dressed and her braids were up again. Joselyn didn't let Quistis speak first.

"I'll go get him, just a second," she made a move to turn around.

"Actually I'll need you as well," Quistis said happily and enjoyed watching Joselyn freeze in mid step for a moment. Joselyn turned back around and inquired an eyebrow; Quistis just smiled feeling infinitely more mocking than she actually looked.

It was strange, but this kind of banter between them felt friendly, although it was the same manner of mockery, although it was on a higher level which only made it make less sense.

"You mean you," Joselyn said and pointed to Quistis.

"Mm, Hmm."

"Are coming for me?" and she pointed to her self.

"Yup."

"Instead of him," she points inside her apartment presumably to Grave.

"That's right," Quistis finished satisfactorily.

Joselyn blinked a few times but ultimately decided not to give it the amount of thought she thought that it deserved. "Okay, I guess I'll go get him," she went back into the apartment apparently perplexed but not concerned about it. Quistis heard unintelligible talk inside and stepped back as the three teenagers filed out.

"I guess I'll see you two later, hey Commander." Cody simply walked off then with his jacket slung over his shoulder, he was not walking in the direction of his private quarters. Quistis didn't leave at once and looked after him.

"Don't bother to salute me or anything." She waved her hand dismissively to Cody's retreating back. "It's not as if you're obligated to gesture your respect to me or anything." Normally Quistis might have said this without sarcasm but Joselyn had just put her in a good mood. Cody would get off easy.

"Good to hear." Was all Cody said, and he waved behind his back.

Quistis just shook her head and started in the direction of the room assigned to Terra. Grave and Joselyn gave one another looks behind Quistis' back as if to say 'What happened to Quistis?' Joselyn was the only one between them who would voice anything about it.

"You must be in a fine mood to overlook mandatory salutation." Joselyn said with all of the balls she didn't have physically –to her side Grave thought absently if she was borrowing his for that statement.

Quistis only seemed amused by Joselyn. "Well I know that Cody and Grave respect me perfectly well, and to be honest Joselyn I gave up on you weeks ago." Joselyn let her jaw drop at Quistis who would not turn around to see Joselyn's expression, she was mildly annoyed with Grave when she looked to him and saw that he was trying so hard to not smile.

Quistis interrupted Joselyn's glare by slowing down and coming between them. "Grave," she said and had his attention quickly, he was still smiling a little bit but she wasn't going to inquire why. "Is it all right if you sum up the mission for me on the walk there, I don't really need a lot of information, just anything noteworthy."

Over Quistis' head Grave and Joselyn shared a different look, before Quistis could look between and find an effective way to pry Joselyn simply nodded to him. Grave made eye contact with Quistis again before speaking.

"Well I suppose the big stuff was being kidnapped by the enemy with our client for one thing."

"Tell me about that."

"Everything was basically happening normally, but we heard Miss Ostentat scream and so we ran to her room. The window was open so we went out that way, we saw a number of enemies and so we all pursued them." Grave was almost hesitant to speak this part because he knew exactly what Quistis was going to say about it. He wished he had mentally prepared himself for it for he feared he would want to snap at her. Snapping at a superior was always foolish no matter what friendship status you may have with them.

"You're not supposed to send everybody in to a situation like that," she almost tut tutted and both of them noticed that.

Joselyn decided to say for Grave what she knew he wanted to say. "That's what Savior was there for, and he did do the job well." Joselyn didn't know that Quistis had a soft spot for Savior, and so she didn't quite understand what she had just said to Quistis.

Quistis was only quiet for a second. "That's a good point, and you're all right now but none the less, think of this as reference for the future."

"Ya huh," he mumbled and then continued before he could be scolded for mumbling "Anyway I think they got us with blow darts infused with Sleep magic because we knew we hadn't been poisoned, and none of us were protected against sleep magic. That was basically the downhill part of the mission."

"What do you know about the enemy?" asked Quistis simply out of necessity; she wouldn't have thought automatically that the enemy had important qualities to Garden.

"They were renegade SeeDs from B-Garden," he began off handedly just to irk Quistis a bit "They said they were established three years ago during the conflict between the Balamb and Galbadia Gardens." Quistis looked rather alarmed at the news.

"How many were there?" she asked quickly.

"About eight or ten maybe, why?" said Grave thinking very little of it.

"We've been looking for those kids for a while; they were declared criminals because they left during that conflict which means they didn't resign normally. And they weren't located at their homes, I'm guessing that you didn't capture any of them," she ended that last note a touch grimly.

"… That's right," Grave said with no shame.

Quistis sighed but held nothing against them internally. "Well you'll have to tell me who killed how many because we're supposed to keep track of kill counts"

"I never understood why we do that," Joselyn inquired out of the blue.

"Neither have I, but it's our policy and it's harmless so I just do it without question." Actually Quistis had questioned it many times over the years. It was only recently that she had given up and simply kept track of the kills without _further_ questioning.

"Well I got one." Joselyn said.

"And I got the rest." finished Grave.

Quistis balked for a moment. "You killed seven to nine people at once?" Grave nodded solemnly. "How?"

Grave said nothing for a moment; he licked his upper row of teeth visibly. "I changed again." Quistis understood then, she mouthed an 'oh.'

"How bad was it this time?" Quistis asked tiredly, she thought that she should begin reacting this way now, for it seemed like Grave changing to kill more efficiently was going to become a normal occurrence for his missions. Truthfully Quistis was alarmed and scared for Grave, but she knew that if he knew that it wouldn't help either of them.

Again Grave took time to speak, Quistis knew that he was articulating his thoughts before speaking. "I changed a lot more." Quistis took a sharp but quiet breath. "The black lines that were on my face were all over my body, and they're apparently a defense mechanism. When I was shot the black stuff were stop the bullets and shred them."

"And he grew a tail," Joselyn interjected with a tone that suggested she liked the fifth appendage, Grave didn't mind, Quistis almost laughed at how Joselyn chose to put that.

"Which reminds me," Grave continued as if it were polite for him to wait for Joselyn to finish interrupting him. "I killed another person, but she was a civilian," Quistis stopped and stopped Grave by grabbing his shoulder. She looked at him like he had just confessed murder…

Grave quickly glanced to Joselyn as if to say 'what'd I say?' Joselyn slapped her forehead embarrassed. "That's one smooth tongue you've got Grave," she said sharply but not harshly.

Instead of getting to reply that she said earlier that his tongue was perfectly smooth, Quistis unknowingly spared her self from hearing that by interrupting him with the matter at hand "This is serious Grave, Galbadia could have an actual charge against us if we're killing their civilians. Please tell me it was an accomplice to the enemy"

Grave pivoted his head to line up with Quistis' arm creepily, as if he really were undead and could oppose his skeleton without a human's natural limit. "Yes, we think that she was a little sister," he said remorselessly.

The mood was changed now. The lightheartedness that Joselyn and Quistis had finally managed after weeks of nonsensical aggression was evaporating because of Grave.

"How old?" Quistis asked pointlessly, this was not something that they kept track of but Grave and Joselyn didn't need to know that and they wouldn't ask about it, Quistis just felt that she needed to know.

"About six," Grave sounded disinterested, he was using this tone on purpose, be it testosterone or his gothicular membrane they couldn't be sure why he was doing it.

"Hyne, Grave," Quistis said with her sympathy directed to Grave.

Quistis knew about Graves dislike of children just as well as Joselyn did. But she never became comfortable with it. So she did the same thing a parent tends to do when they discover something about their teenager that they aren't comfortable with, she pretended it wasn't entirely true.

Quistis liked to think that Grave was only putting on a façade. As if he were only pretending that he didn't care about the health of young ones to feel like he was manly. Or what was more likely he would feel like a better mercenary since they were not supposed to distinguish age when it came to hunting the enemy.

The reason she did this was because she was afraid that if he truly didn't like children, then he wouldn't see anything wrong with harming the resident ones.

The truth of the matter was Grave wouldn't do it because the children never provoked him that way. And even if he did then he wouldn't do it for fear that he would need to leave Garden because of it. Although he secretly did want to harm those children sometimes, for even though they would normally keep their mouths shut, sometimes one of them would let slip a necro joke about him that one of their elders told.

It was rather an unusual shame that Quistis cared about this so much more than Grave did. Joselyn felt strange as an onlooker.

"Its fine, I don't mind really," he said reassuringly.

"I'm sure you don't," Quistis said tiredly again, and she allowed them to walk again.

Thinking that the mood needed to be changed at once Joselyn decided that she would finish the report for Grave. "The only other thing that happened was we got new Guardian Forces." at this Quistis perked up and seemed perfectly fine with changing the mood, they were after all going in the direction to a very sophisticated partially human creature and they needed to make a good impression.

"What can you tell me about them," Quistis was talking to Joselyn now, Grave didn't mind.

"Their names are Palidor –that's the one I got, I took it from the WeeD I killed- and… Grave," she gestured to Grave that she had forgotten the name of the other Guardian Force.

Inside Grave, Lich stirred in annoyance.

"Lich," Grave answered without needing to look in Joselyn's direction.

"Yeah, Lich," Joselyn was about to go on but Quistis interrupted her.

"Wait a second," she held her hand out to Joselyn to halt her report momentarily. "Did you say WeeDs?" she sounded like she didn't want to believe that Joselyn had said that although she had heard her perfectly.

"Yup," Joselyn replied mirthfully.

"They didn't mean for the D to be capitalized did they?"

"They did," Joselyn said with a certain kind of satisfaction and lilt in her voice.

Quistis made a quirky face and laughed. "I feel horrible for disrespecting the dead this way but that's awfully funny," truth-be-told Quistis did not really feel bad about it, but she would have felt bad for not saying that.

Joselyn decided that she needed to ask this before they finished the report while it was fresh in their minds. "Why do _we_ even capitalize the D?"

"You'll never know," was what Quistis said and she said it with finality. "Is there anything else? We're almost there."

Joselyn looked over Quistis to Grave. "You should tell her the last part," she said rightfully and Grave nodded at that.

"We found Lich in a stone casket under the floor of the Tomb of the Unknown King. I said that Salamander wanted to speak with her and that made the casket explode." Grave couldn't resist but gesture wildly with his arms when he got to that part. "Then she jammed her arm inside me and spoke with Salamander through me." Grave was getting excited as he retold the event but both women knew him well enough to know that he wasn't getting too carried away.

"They said that there's a demon in me and that he needed her in me to help him fend it off," he was saying this like he was angry, and maybe he was, but what he was really trying to tell Quistis was that he thought he needed help, and he would have it.

They are outside of the door now, and hearing this Quistis decides that this is the perfect time to tell them what they're there for.

"Is that all you have to report?" Quistis asks and the adolescents nod. "Good, now Joselyn before we go in here I need to tell you that I don't know exactly what's going to happen. I have been assured that no harm will come to you. Inside that room is the half Guardian Force…"

"Esper." Grave interrupted necessarily.

"What?" asked Quistis surprisingly, the teenagers before her would think that she of all people would know the actual name of the Guardian Forces, the bookworm that she was.

"The history books say they call themselves Espers. Wait, Terra?" Grave said suddenly and comically, just realizing that he was the only one who didn't catch at once who they were going to see. "Terra is in there?"

"Oh," Joselyn said suddenly understanding why she was there. "I have her father in me."

"Fujin said that she wants to speak with him, now I can't imagine how she's going to do that without us freeing him, I'm worried that she's going to do that but I think we should take that chance. This is a very important moment."

"She'll probably do the same thing that Lich did to me," Grave said what Quistis might have thought of moments ago on her own but clearly had not.

Quistis looked to Grave for a moment and considered that. "You're probably right, Lich didn't remove Salamander did she?" she asked carefully, Grave wondered if Quistis was going to more careful when talking about this in front of Terra because it seemed like it would be considered rude.

"She didn't," he assured her hoping he could make her relax about this even just a little bit.

"Well she wants to talk to her dad, let's not waste time," Joselyn said.

"Well said," Quistis replied and -without hesitating the way she might have liked to- she knocked on the door.

_**EG**_

Quistis is beginning to worry me. I know how eager she has been to make contact with Terra and for how long. I don't share so much of her enthusiasm but I do understand it. I know that she never did lose hope on finding the woman and I know that she's excited now that she's finally with us. But something is amiss.

Quistis isn't entirely happy which probably shouldn't be a surprise. Normally when something so exciting and long anticipated finally comes there turns out to be something that was overlooked or forgotten or not considered. If I'm right then the thing that went wrong was the latter.

She looked particularly vexed when she mentioned that Terra was not fond of us. When I recall the way she spoke about Terra over the years I think that is one of the things that she never considered about Terra. She perhaps thought that Terra would just openly expand their research and knowledge about Espers out of charity. She may have even hoped to have her as an ally.

I wonder sometimes wonder if the Espers think that we imprison them. I hope that isn't true because I'm rather fond of Salamander, he has been a good help to me when I needed him… and had him.

In any event I'm sure that Quistis won't completely ruin this encounter for herself.

The room is essentially empty, it has a bed and bathroom and a closet and a certain amount of floor space. It was cleared out earlier from a death during the field exam no doubt. We tend to have at least one even with the PesticidE's, although we can probably assume that Savior wasn't around for this exam.

On the bed are Fujin and Terra. They are facing each other and must have been discussing something. This can only be a good sign I think. Terra looks pleased with Fujin, and Fujin almost looks embarrassed. Not being somebody who spends time with Fujin I don't want to jump to that conclusion, but she's wearing the look that I think I wear when Joselyn gets close to me.

Must remain blissfully unaware of implied lesbianism…

Quistis seems ready to make the proper introductions but Terra stands up and approaches Joselyn as if Joselyn was not a stranger. It seems like the humans before Terra are redundant to her when they are not Fujin. Joselyn might have thought to offer her hands to Terra but Terra grabs her hands from her sides instead of allowing any kind of greeting to take place. We must be another obstacle to the real introduction that she wants. I hope that Joselyn isn't insulted and has come to the same conclusion that I have.

Joselyn is startled by Terra's touch as if it isn't normal but she doesn't recoil, she allows Terra to do what she needs to. Joselyn moves strangely now, her body goes erect and goes limp gradually but she does not fall or even lose her equilibrium. She stands complete again, and just as I had yesterday she speaks with two voices. The first is her woman's voice, and the second is the voice of a beast whose species is not identifiable.

"Terra," says Maduin and Joselyn compassionately and simultaneously, Joselyn's compassion must be borrowed for I know that she does not feel for these people as much as they feel for each other.

"Father," Terra says releasing an impressive breath, as her breasts heave as she says that I am suddenly appreciating Terra's unnatural beauty. This is not to say that her breasts are the focus of her dazzling display but it is what triggered it. I am very happy that Joselyn can't notice me taking in Terra right now.

She looks so inhuman, but in a good way, that is really the only way I can describe her without going into detail.

"I felt you coming closer, I thought it was too good to be true so I assumed my hope was playing tricks on me." I want to say that he sounds very human but I know he is not, so that must mean that longing and compassion in no way define human character. It's wonderful how we discover these things really.

"I want to speak with you forever father but I know we mustn't interfere with this young ladies life, though she is your prison. I just want to ask you if it is as horrible as we imagined being the slaves of these humans," she says that very normally, very matter of fact. It's strange to see her speaking ill of us right in front of us while she speaks to her father with compassion that does not match her contempt.

I personally do not feel insulted by that. It has occurred to me before that I may be imprisoning Salamander but the way he spoke about me to Lich yesterday has led me to believe that he is not angry with me. I do not think that I am a good judge of Fujin's expression, but I'm fairly positive that Quistis was hurt somewhere by what Terra has just said.

I always thought that on some level, in some way, Quistis cared about her Guardian Forces. At the very least I know that she respected them all, even the ones that she does not harbor. I expect that now, to hear that they may consider her not a person but a prison she must feel like she has been struck. And to hear this from an Esper who she literally admires –and to hear this from the Terra so harshly- she must suddenly feel like something she knows –or at least has always believed- she is not.

It was Maduins next words which hopefully lifted Quistis' sprits enough so that she could think about this ordeal reasonably again.

"No it is not my darling daughter. The human mind is a fascinating thing to explore, their unstopping confusion makes for an ever changing plane that changes every second and is never the same again." I want to turn to Quistis and ask in a whisper to her if she thinks we should be insulted by that or pleased. But she is hypnotized by the exchange; she suddenly doesn't look concerned about her own feelings.

I'm not sure that Terra is ready to accept that, she seems to have been set on a 'humans are evil' state of mind. But she is speaking to her father, and although I am not familiar with child parent relations I think I can tell that she values her father's opinion. Maduin may have saved us from something and we will never know.

"I see, so there is no need to free you?" Quistis is taken aback now, apparently she was not so hypnotized, I do hope that she keeps her cool when she approaches Terra about that, and I know that she will.

"Certainly not Terra, the humans can be reasonable if you are reasonable with them. I believe that we can reach an agreement with them." He seems to be on our side, which is really a relief I think.

"You of course don't want to spend all of your time inside the girl." Was all that Terra seemed to get out of her fathers last message. Hopefully she can understand that we could be reasonable with her with whatever it is she wants from us.

"Yes, although the human mind is rather spacious –and by that I mean no offence." I think it's funny that he's saying that he means no offence not to the humans in the room but to Terra. "I must admit that before I entered this girls mind three years ago, I had never before seen so many phallic symbols."

That hit me like a vengeful punch-me-clown swinging a thirty-eight ounce glass bottle. I don't think that I will ever be able to let Joselyn live that down. I can't help but smile and laugh out loud when I hear this. I am thankful that I go ignored by the other people in the room.

Terra however looks un-phased, apparently the notion of a teenager with a brain full of phalluses is not so dirty a thing to make a face at and or condemn, I think that Terra is my kind of woman. "Very well father, I hope to speak with you again soon."

"Yes Dear daughter, take care." And Terra releases Joselyn's hands but only when she's sure that her father is ready to be disconnected.

I expect for Joselyn to stand on her own two feet but I see that she isn't entirely conscious again yet because she is falling to the floor. I slide across the carpet on my socks behind Joselyn and I wrap my arms around her waist. I catch her shirt and it slides up to reveal her stomach but my arms stop at her breast –which is something of a surprise since Joselyn is not overly endowed in that region, she's a B cup at best.

After only a few seconds Joselyn takes a deep breath –I imagine her eyes fluttering open now- and she stands up, she tries to support her self by reaching behind her back to grasp my shoulders and she regains her balance. I only let go of her when she moves my arms away.

I move to Joselyn's side and see that Terra is addressing her. "Thank you for being our conduit young lady." Anybody else might have used that as an excuse to get Joselyn's name but again Terra is telling us that she is disinterested that way but she is clearly still grateful.

"Of course, you can use me whenever you need me." Joselyn knows that she could be inconvenienced by that and that she may regret it. I hope the good in her heart doesn't mind that.

"I may need you again soon but I know all that I've been wondering for the time being." Terra is suddenly sweet to Joselyn; surely it is because she now knows that her father favors her.

"Well we won't take up any more of your time, I'm sure you need some time to get used to this place." I'm kind of surprised that Quistis is not approaching Terra about her attitude towards us yet. Perhaps she has regained her senses and has decided that she needs to reduce her temper first so that she might speak with Terra about this civilly. It is of course wise to treat your enemy well no matter what, especially if you want them to turn to an ally.

Or maybe I'm just thinking about this too much.

I realize something as Quistis and Joselyn are moving to leave the room. I know that it is awkward to say this now but I can not pass up this opportunity now that it has occurred to me. I don't know how long Terra will be with us –she may even be planning to leave after Quistis and Joselyn and I leave the room, we after all don't understand her powers yet, she could be a teleporter or something.

"Terra," I say as clearly as I can enunciate, I elevate my head and shoulders thinking I may have been slouching. "May I please request your help?" I realize that I do not know this woman but judging by how she behaves and moves I think that I need to be as polite –and somewhat humble- as I can manage to converse with her effectively. She is smiling at me softly and ignoring Quistis and Joselyn and whatever expressions they may be wearing behind me. I mimic her.

"Yes sweet soul?" she says sweetly, and I think that if I weren't taken and monogamous I would be shivering internally upon hearing that. This woman is supernaturally charming; she is perhaps the Esper of sex appeal or something.

Hyne I hope that she can't read minds; I'd be ruined before I even requested her.

"I" am at a loss for the word I'm looking for, I don't there is one so I suppose I'll use the first word that comes to mind. "Harbor Salamander and recently Lich," I begin to explain and I do not complain when she interrupts me.

"I noticed, I felt her leave confinement recently, and I felt them approaching with you with your father and Shiva." She must be referring to Quistis with Shiva.

"Yes, well, before Lich entered me she spoke with Salamander, she agreed because Salamander said that there is a demon in me. I was wondering if you could detect a demon if you can feel your fellow Espers the way you do." I hope that she's happy that I used their proper name, the way her smile changes tells me that she is.

But she only smiles a bit because then she thinks about my request and she only looks perplexed.

"I'm afraid that I can detect no demon in you. Are you sure that you heard right?" she inquires with no offence that I can detect, but with this woman it could be hard to detect that.

"I'm positive." I assure her and she makes her self look perplexed some more.

"Let me see." Are the words I was hoping for and now I finally hear them. Terra approaches me rather than beckon me to her like I might have expected her to, but I think that I have interested her very much if I can claim to have an entity in me that she can't detect.

"Give me your hand," she says as if to claim that this is not as exciting as speaking with her father again that she will simply grab my hand to find what I'm claiming.

I don't know what to say now so I hold out my hand. Terra reaches out to my hand and touches my palm with her fingers, minimal contact, apparently when she was grasping Joselyn's hands earlier she was just being excited to speak to Maduin.

Terra does not touch my hand for two whole seconds before her eyes shoot open. Her breathing stops noticeably, her mouth is open. At once I know that something is wrong and I decide that I can interrupt this, that I probably should interrupt this.

"Terra?" I say very clearly and I try to touch her hand with my other one.

And at once she rips her hand away from mine; suddenly all of her that stopped is working again and is happening very fast to make up for lost time. She breathes rapidly, she crushes her eye lids closed, her breathing isn't healthy, Fujin looks ready to stop but in this moment I feel obligated to help and so I step forward.

"Terra," I say again uselessly.

And as if I had knocked her against her stomach she flies across the room and slams her back against the wall above the bed. Terra lands ass first on the bed and huddles her legs against her chest. She hit the wall hard but she behaves like she has no injury, and if she does have one then she is ignoring it and sitting through whatever pain she may be feeling as if she isn't feeling it.

What the hell just happened?

"WRONG?" Fujin inquires with the voice that I never hear. She has no interest in anybody but Terra it seems. Fujin drops to the floor knees first and pries Terra's head away from her arms and stares straight into her eyes. Terra's eyes are wide open still; they look like they may never close again.

Did I do this, or did she see this demon when she touched my hand and if so why does it strike fear in to her when Salamander and Lich have no trouble braving against it. And so well that Terra cannot notice it the way she notices her fellow Espers?

I recognize what Fujin is doing now. I have never seen it done in front of me before; I have only seen diagrams of it in textbooks during some of the more boring cadet classes. Sometimes an experience with magic can be traumatizing. Sometimes the brain simply can't handle what is placed into it. Then this happens.

It's like going into shock almost, but more than that it's like panic induced from a back hallucinogenic trip. What you need to do to said panicking person is to hold them still and look into their eyes, you make sure not to break eye contact. And then you speak loud and clear to them.

"TERRA," it is wise to say their name, but really you just need to get their attention, you need to get them back in to reality. In the case of magic panic you need to make them focus on the physical world and to ignore non magical things for the time being. Certain people have gone insane from this panic and could never work with magic again for the rest of their lives without going through this trauma again.

Hyne I hope I haven't done that to Terra. I don't believe that I have, but I don't know that I haven't. This is going to eat at me.

Fujin is prying Terra's arms from around her legs; Fujin is pulling Terra's legs down and putting her feet to the floor. Terra is keeping eye contact it which is a good sign, she can pay attention to Fujin who is tangible, and she is right in front of her. Fujin is now grasping Terra's arms and forcing her self close to the woman…

I don't remember ever seeing that in the diagrams in the classes, it looks rather intimate, but then again that is the manner of activity you need to pull somebody out of that kind of panic so I suppose it's a precaution.

Maybe it's the testosterone talking, but something tells me that Fujin is doing this for more than a precaution… Damn it I need to make myself think of the matter at hand this is serious. It's only an attractive woman embracing another attractive woman like a lover, and that's… okay…

"Terra," Fujin speaks quietly for the first time and at first I wonder if it was Terra that spoke her own name. But I know that I didn't see her lips move, and when I think about her voice it is not the same. That was Fujin, but it did not sound quite like her. Her voice lacked that rasp we always hear, her voice is smooth.

I look to Quistis and consider speaking to her but she's not even looking at me. But Joselyn is. I don't know how to read this look on her face now, but I can tell that she isn't angry with me and that's all I really need to know before we leave this room.

I wonder now why we haven't left yet, after this I should wonder if I'm welcome near this woman anymore.

"Fujin," this time it is Terra who is speaking and she sounds lucid. This is further hope that she is not permanently damaged or not damaged at all.

"Tell me where you are," Fujin says very clearly and I need to wonder if her rasping voice is a hoax. No, it would be something less severe, a façade. I need to wonder why she doesn't just speak normally all the time, she wouldn't freak people out so much, and her normal voice sounds nice.

But maybe that's why she does it, either way it really isn't my business.

"We are in a spare cadet dormitory in your Balamb Garden, you told me that it's former occupant died earlier today." Terra has established her lucidity and now I can release that breath that I was holding. Why do we never realize that we're holding our breath when we're under stress?

Fujin moves away from Terra and kneels in front of her. Terra sits up and takes a deep breath for her self. She's fine now and clearly needs the space around to be clear but I think that I'll have to leave now so I need to speak now.

"I'm sorry," I blurt out quickly. I know that if I said her name first or if I tried to explain my innocence before apology I would be interrupted by somebody –probably Fujin- and I would not be able to. It's clumsy but I think it was better than trying to argue my way to my apology.

Terra is not looking at me but her attention is still directed at me somehow, I can feel it. "I know, I didn't realize that would happen either, I do not blame child." I am relieved, but in the back of my head I can only wonder why somebody who looks so young could be comfortable calling child.

"Good." I hope to sound considerate but I'm worried that I am less considerate than I sound. Normally I couldn't care less to feel this way but I do not know the extent to this woman's powers. "I hope you're all right."

"I am fine," she waves that away as if it were unimportant to all of us instead of only to her. "But I'm afraid that I can't help you, I will go in to panic every time I try to do that for you." She sounds genuinely sorry about that, I wonder if she was eager to speak with Lich and Salamander after I offered for her to speak to them.

"I see, well I forgive you." I hope I sound reasonable rather than imperious, it's so hard to tell when you are speaking with somebody you have never met before.

"No need child." She waves that away as well and then she looks to me, she seems a bit haggard but her health is in no danger, her hair is in disarray and that's about all I can see "But know this, Salamander always knows what he is doing, no matter how frightening that… thing may be, Salamander will find a way to save us all."

"Save us all?" I didn't think it would be that urgent, but I suppose I should have thought that since it has taken the combined power of Salamander and Lich to keep this thing under control within me, and up until then it was only Salamander.

I fear that I can't fully appreciate what Salamander has been doing for me. I don't feel anything happening in my brain or anywhere else inside me. I never have felt anything happening, in fact on more than one occasion I've forgotten that this has been happening to me at all. I wonder if this is just because Salamander has been doing a fine job of suppressing the thing.

I can't believe that I haven't thought of it until now, but when I've summoned him in the past, where does that leave this demon? Have I been increasing my chances of freeing the thing -or having it possess me or whatever it does- unknowingly by summoning Salamander out of me? I wish so much that I could speak with my Guardian Force about this. I know now that he speaks English so surely he could clear all of this up for me.

"That thing in you is very dangerous," she says and sits up straight, she takes the time to straighten her hair and her posture before continuing, Fujin stands up and moves back to Terra's side on the bed. "If it is manifest in the world as we are the whole planet could be put in grave danger." I almost want to snap at her for that bad pun but then I remember that she does not know my name so she does not realize what she just said.

"You may leave now if you must but might I advise you before you do?" I'm not about to turn down advice from an Esper concerning my own Guardian Forces so I just nod for her. Her next words strike me hard like the hot wire of a light bulb.

"It would be wise of you to keep from allowing the blood of another to enter your body that is what coaxes him into our world. The power of every Esper alive in your mind would never be enough against the right amount of blood."

For a second I'm worried about the amount of blood I've taken in already and how Terra doesn't know that. I worry for a moment that this demon might have been mocking me by staying inside and that the sacrifice I've made already was enough. I'm worried that he's going to come out right now somehow.

Do I know that it's a he? What else do I know about it?

I realize too late that I'm breathing heavily and that the look on my face must be worried and contorted, because as I look at Terra I can tell that she's judging me.

"You've been using it haven't you," I open my mouth. "You don't need to answer that, you're from this academy after all I know that you have." I want to argue with her, but at the same time I realize that it's pointless because this woman simply hates us. She can be civil but she still hates us.

And she'll never listen to me when I tell her that last time I had no choice.

"We're sorry for bothering you, if you need to speak with your father again then that can be arranged," Quistis interjects for us and I'm grateful for it.

Quistis and Joselyn file out first, and I don't look back to Terra even though I really want to. I just remind myself that she simply will not listen to me. At least I have other things to occupy my mind.

I have this demon in me that could potentially be a danger to our whole planet.

**Death in the Family**

Quistis is wearing the same dress she wore at the last SeeD Inauguration. Normally she would go through the trouble to get another dress, especially since she did have a few new ones from the last stop at Esthar. Zell liked to joke that Esthar made the best dresses because that was the only they ever tailored anyway. Quistis distinguished between robes and dresses but only a little bit so she was essentially in agreement with Zell. That was really the only reason she had agreed to go with the other girls then.

She has decided to wear this dress again because unlike a lot of her other formal dresses it is very quick and easy to remove.

Quistis realizes it is a gamble but she knows that she will be heart broken if she does not get what she is after tonight. She has been under far too much stress over the course of the day. Seeing Irvine and Zell being civil earlier –which was actually just the pair ignoring each other as much as they could when they were together- was shattered later in the hallway.

She heard very clearly Zell and Irvine standing together alone in an adjacent hallway. Zell very clearly threatened Irvine's life, and high on testosterone Irvine complied and said that he didn't mind.

Quistis wanted to think that it meant nothing. A death threat normally meant nothing; normally a death threat was made only to let somebody know how strongly you felt about something. And anybody could tell that Zell felt very strongly about other men keeping their romantic and sexual attention away from Netta.

But despite their brotherhood Quistis knew deep in her heart that Zell never fully liked Irvine. Something in his voice earlier that day said that he really did want to do that to Irvine, and another part of her was worried that he really would do it or at least try if Irvine hit on Netta anymore.

Quistis told her self that it really was meaningless and that they would work it out without her. She couldn't be there for them all the time, and she was due for her own romantic pleasure. She had not bothered to have a drink, drinking never helped her courage and if it ever had then she couldn't remember those times so she could not value them.

Quistis is still standing against the wall beside an exotic tree that in her opinion clashed with the other surroundings. It was some manner of midget palm tree which wouldn't have looked natural even in the Training Center. She was standing beside it because she knew it attracted a lot of attention to those who had an eye for those things like she did. She was waiting for a man with such an eye.

As the time passed and Savior did not enter Quistis began to wonder about Grave and Joselyn, her two most notable former students as of late. She thought of Joselyn more now because the woman suddenly decided to be civil with her. She didn't really understand it but Quistis was not about to retaliate to sudden kindness, if it was just a front to make some prank or something or other more successful then she would notice. For she was keeping her self a bit suspicious of Joselyn for the time being, although part of her felt she knew that Joselyn was happier now and would not be a bother.

Grave was more on her mind however, Grave was always more on her mind than Joselyn was and especially after the interaction between him and Terra earlier. When Terra spoke of a demon in Grave was of course when she began to worry. Firstly because she had never heard of somebody using the word demon as a literal term, demon was supposed to just be a word you use when somebody was particularly skilled or gifted in one arena or if they were somehow wicked. But there had never been a record of a supernatural body that was called a demon. If there was then the Espers must have kept it out of their texts and artwork.

Quistis didn't know that she felt precisely as frightened as Grave had when Terra told him that blood is what coaxes him out in to manifestation. Thoughts of exorcism and other crackpot cures started through her head then. It wasn't until she had made it back into her room and had Marcus in her lap that she started to think coherently again. She couldn't remember if she had gone through the trouble of walking the new couple back to their apartment, she was sure it may have gone the other way around.

Part of Quistis wanted to think about this demon more. She wanted to figure this out now even though she knew something this big would never go away so quickly. That part of her could only think of giving this demon whatever amount of blood it wanted just so it would show it self. Maybe if it showed it self they would know what to do with it. Hopefully it would be little more than an epic battle. They could still form a party of three, they could do it.

But the rest of her knew that she could do nothing now and that she had no more information that Grave did. And unless if she could coax it out of Terra she would continue to know nothing, it would be best for her to focus on her personal mission for the night.

Her heart and loins throbbed once each at her as if they had minds of their own and that they were annoyed by her.

Quistis wondered quickly if Grave and Joselyn were at the party now. She had been watching the entrance since the party started and she hadn't seen them either. She assumed that they were back in their room; she imagined that Joselyn was helping him through this hard time with their new found activity or some variation of it.

And as if her thoughts of sex had cued him Savior passed through the entrance in that moment. Quistis clutched the glass of liquor her tongue had not touched once and she began sucking her tongue between both rows of her teeth. She stared hard at him and hoped that would be enough to catch his attention and at the same time knowing that it would.

Eventually his head stopped scanning the room and stopped at her; Quistis sees the patch of swirled polystyrene and feels his one eye stare behind his mask and for the first time that night she really thinks that she won't get what she wants. She feels crushed in that moment but she smiles through it and the lust on her lips burns the feeling away like acid on paper. She waves with wriggling fingers and she sets her untouched drink down for some underage cadet to steal.

Savior does not move he is a pillar; he is like an ornamental statue placed in a very inconvenient spot. He waits for her to approach him because he has the feeling that she wants that. The only part of him that moves is his head as it moves downward so that he can maintain eye contact as she comes closer.

He lets her speak first for he is sure that she would have prepared for her opening line of their evening. "Let's get out of here now." She does not say it commandingly but that is how she means it. She is saying it like it is just the thing that both of them want to do and she is right.

"But I just got here," he complains playfully and they both know he had only come to retrieve her. They never stay in the public eye together for long.

"Well that's too damn bad," she says happily and they love every second of it, Quistis throws her arms around his neck and runs her index fingers down either side of his covered neck. "If I leave then you follow, and I'm going back to my room." Quistis is taking her arms from his neck, she puts two fingertips in her mouth and licks them carefully with the tip of her tongue. She presses them hard against his chest and walks around him and out of the ball room. Savior breathes deeply and follows her out of the door way.

It is their unspoken agreement to go to her apartment. Going to his would be impossible since she is not allowed in the basement not being Xu or a PesticidE her self. Also her apartment is neater and larger and essentially more suitable for their activities in every way. They don't even need to talk about it. Only once did they do that and it was only to have verbal confirmation.

Savior does not catch up with her during the whole walk to her room. He wonders if she is distressed by that but she isn't saying anything and she is not slowing down so that he might catch up. She knows that he could catch up without her help so she would not see that point. It probably wouldn't even occur to her. Really he just wants to watch her right now, the next couple of hours will no doubt be devoted to talking and despite how much he enjoys talking with Quistis Savior does need to get his fix of her eye candy.

If it is bothering her that he is not walking beside her so they might speak more before they go inside then he will make it up to her while they are in there. Quistis would not keep that from him. She is rather a direct woman; she is always honest with him about the things that bother her.

But for now he will just enjoy her back side with his eye. He notes that she is wearing the same dress that she wore last time. He remembers how it looked so like blood in the water blood that wouldn't come apart and swirl like a pink cloud that would have left her completely naked in that water.

Savior thinks that he won't get to actually see Quistis naked tonight so he tries hard to expunge that thought for the sake of keeping his brain completely active for what he thinks is just going to be another night of talking and massaging Marcus's neck.

Quistis doesn't stop at her door, she opens it and goes in to her apartment, and for a moment Savior wonders if she's going to close the door on him. But the door is open and he goes inside and he closes it himself. Marcus leaps from a place beyond Saviors vision and lands on Quistis' chest. He's rubbing his cold wet nose on her chin but it's so small of a cold that Quistis is only enjoying it. It tickles pleasantly.

Savior unbuckles his boots and set them by the door next to the high heels that Quistis had worn earlier. He is now seeing the lower half of her legs in their entirety. He moves his eye up past the parts that are covered and peruses the curves; her thighs, her ass, he lower back, and he stops at her upper back because it is not covered.

He wants to kiss her spinal columns through her skin and lick up to her neck; he would stop at the base of her hairs growth where he would bite just a bit and scratch that spot briefly with her fingertips. He doesn't think about how catlike that erotica is and he does not think about the detail of moving her braid over her shoulder so that he would have access to her neck in the first place.

Marcus has jumped from Quistis and is attending to his water dish. Quistis has little pink lines across the upper part of her breasts where his claws grazed her but he did not break the skin. She is thinking about asking Savior to lick those lines.

Quistis has decided that his following her in to the room rather than walking along side her is unimportant, she is more concerned about the actual reason she is bringing him here. "Xu told me that we'll be at war G-Garden soon, they've apparently been trailing us. They're detecting us somehow," she has decided that opening with her excuse is the best way to begin convincing him.

"She told me that this afternoon too, do you think you know how they're doing it?" she can't judge his voice but she wishes that she could. She wants to know that he's thinking about sex, as things are now she can only assume that he his but she's worried that for once he isn't.

"I hope not." She doesn't want to talk about the war they're going to have soon. Quistis will tell him but that's not what she wants to talk about right now. This is after all supposed to be an excuse to get him in to her bed. "But in any event the fight is inevitable, and we might die when it happens." She's glad that he isn't looking directly at her face, he could gain the upper hand if he was, their facial expression judgment were her disadvantage with Savior.

Quistis is worried that she's moving too fast with her little speech but she feels impatient tonight so she forgives her self, she only hopes that this will work. She hopes that his testosterone will make him do what she wants.

"We're not going to die." Quistis thinks he is either saying that reassuringly or matter of fact, she imagines he is saying it reassuringly because that is just the mood that she is in.

"Normally I would think that too but we may be opposed to another Sorceress this time." She waits for Savior to say something but nothing comes from behind her. She waits even longer and still nothing so she turns around to face him. He is standing in the same spot, he is still saying nothing.

"What's wrong?" she asks as if their conversation was unimportant now.

"It's nothing," he says abruptly, the stoniness managed to pass through his mouth piece and she knows that he will not elaborate about this for her no matter what she does or what she says.

Quistis decided that if she wasn't going to drag that out of him that she would suck it up and begin, it would be all or none, either she would have him in her bed or he would be driven out of her room. "I just thought that we should indulge while we still have time, if the situation is as bad as we think it is." Quistis resisted the urge to wring her fingers, to bite her lip and look away from him out of the corners of her eyes.

Instead she looked directly at him and hoped he wouldn't convince her that they simply shouldn't because she would listen to him. Quistis didn't want to listen to him anymore.

"How do you mean?" he knew what she meant, he was just stalling and she thought that was annoying.

"You know what I mean," she said sharply and she approached him, she looked up to where his eyes were hiding looking angry.

The truth was she just looked angry, she was really just horny and it was changing shape on her face to match other minor emotions. Savior lowers her head and shakes it a bit, his arms raise a bit to suggest that he is about to spout out some excuses. Inwardly Quistis was glad because she knew what they were already so she was ready for them.

"We've already talked about this," he began and inwardly she was mouthing the words as he spoke them to silently mock him so she could have her fun without interrupting him. "I want this too, but it would just be awkward with this helmet on, even Marcus would be laughing at us." Every time he used that excuse she would imagine Marcus laughing, such fine imagery.

"Then take off the helmet," she stated as if it were really that simple, and now with her new plan it really was, but he didn't know yet so he would continue to excuse him self.

Quistis never before she would find a man so reluctant to have sex with her, especially one so close to her, it was awe inspiring even for someone as lacking in vanity as Quistis.

"You can't see me," he said dangerously beneath the mask so Quistis couldn't hear what wouldn't have intimidated her anyway.

"Maybe I could just sign one of those contracts," Quistis said almost whimsically, she was enjoying going through the same shit again so much because this time she was sure it would end differently.

"I can't do that with anybody else; we're only allowed to do that with so many people before we run out."

"Yeah," Quistis sighed. "And I could have been among them but I didn't care about you soon enough." The whimsy was going away right now but she didn't want to dwell on this, just say it and get past it she thought, I'll have him in a minute. "The doctor in Deling City who dealt with your eye and Ellone, no more than three non PesticidE's can know who you are." Quistis secretly hated Xu for counting her self as the third person for everybody, she may as well have only counted two non PesticidE's.

"I want to show you who I am Quistis." She wished she could hear his voice to judge if he really meant that because she was never quite sure she believed that. "But you might be able to identify me so you can't see me or hear me."

"I know you Savior, I don't need to see you or hear you to want to sleep with you." It sounded completely unrelated to what they were talking about but she thought it needed to be said before she did what she need to. Quistis turns around and goes in to her room. Savior does not think it is quite wise but he follows her.

Inside Quistis is standing in front of her dresser. Savior approaches her from behind and wonders if she wants him to touch her at all. He thinks to put his hands on her shoulders or her hips but he doesn't, instead he just looks over her shoulder. Quistis grabs the items she was looking at and turns around to face him.

Instead of explaining she shows the items to him in turn because she knows that he will identify them at once. She shows her left palm right palm first. It is a black blindfold, long and made of a material that doesn't reflect the light. He takes off one glove and set it on the dresser behind her; he runs his thumb over the material, its velvet.

Quistis opens her left palm and shows him two small white plastic devices. These devices are the opposite of hearing aids. They completely block out sound by way of a painless frequency they give off to the inner ear. It took many years to perfect this device but it was worth it. Wearing these things a person could stand in a steel room and drop a pin but they would not hear it hit the floor.

Mostly they are used in the shooting range but their snipers sometimes liked to wear them to help them concentrate. People would wear them when training for the same reason. Nobody had thought of an official name for them.

She had really thought this through, he thought. He tried to come up with an excuse again, he tried to think of something they were missing or how it could go wrong but he could think of nothing. If Quistis wanted to she could tie a permanent knot with that blindfold so they would need to cut it off. The ear pieces also had a harmless adhesive in them so they were sure to not fall out of her head.

He could think of nothing, and on top of that was the worst part. He trusted her. Savior believed that she would not remove the blindfold in the middle of it all, he knew that she wouldn't pop the ear pieces out and blame it on wax in her ears –it had been proven that wax was not enough to neutralize the effect of the adhesive, it was harmless but still powerful.

Quistis had brought him in here thinking that she would finally get him in to bed.

Savior decided that she had been right.

"Well?" she looked up to him expectantly like a cute innocent thing that might have been furry "What do you say?" she was holding the items to him now; she wanted to establish trust by allowing him to cover her so she would not identify him. She wanted him to be completely comfortable and she knew that by putting his concerns in his hands that he would be comfortable indefinitely.

Savior takes off his gloves and enjoys watching Quistis' face as it softens gradually. His coat comes undone soon and he drops it on the floor. Underneath that he is wearing minimal non revealing clothing, just loose black cotton cloth. And his mask and helmet remains of course.

He takes the ear pieces first for the sake of convenience. He has never fitted another person with these things before but he has tried them and it is not so different. He changes their setting so that she will hear nothing.

Savior has used these devices before and he is not fond of him. He thinks that if he were to feel great fear on the battle field it would be with these things in him. To not hear the sounds around you, the battle, your comrades and your enemies all blocked out. That is nothing short of unsafe to him. Even a sniper who hides far away should be wary of an enemy who could sneak up on them.

This is easily the most use he will ever get out of these devices.

Once they are fit inside her head Quistis truly hears nothing. Although the sound of the plastic brushing against her inner ear flesh is surprisingly loud to hear just before every little thing is blocked out. This is a new sensation and she thinks it will make the sex different; she realizes that she will be focusing on other sensations without hearing him moaning and grunting above her. She realizes this will be more so once the blind-fold goes on and she can see nothing as well.

Quistis brushes her hair behind her ears for him so they do not tangle her hair with the blindfold. He pulls the whole length of the blindfold and without letting her know he checks to see if it stretches so as to have eye holes. It does not stretch at all, and there are not even tiny openings where threads cross. He places the blindfold over her eyes and she sees black, the black is somehow different when she opens her eyes behind the blindfold but no more revealing. She is privately disappointed by that but she refuses to complain in her position.

The next thing that Savior does surprises and delights Quistis very much. It was not part of the plan because she never would have thought of it because it would be just the thing he would decline. But here he was insisting without her prying. Savior took her hands and guides them to his head -she guesses that he is leaning towards her but she can't be sure- he brings her fingers to two differently shaped pieces of plastic, she grabs hold of them when he stops guiding her and she twists them.

Quistis feels the top portion of the helmet brush by her fingers downward. She imagines the sound of it hitting the floor.

His hands come away from hers and soon she feels the same kind of plastic brushing against her nose; soon she feels a spot that is swirled and misshapen. He's proving to her that the mask has come off. He takes it away and she imagines him tossing it behind him with the rest of his clothes.

He's actually looking at me now, she thought. She pictures his eye is blue, not blue like Squalls, and not blue like hers but darker. She imagines it is dark like the middle of the ocean.

Quistis confirms that he has not moved by putting her palms on his shoulders and she is surprised to feel his skin instead of his shirt. The man isn't wasting time anymore, she thought to her self delighted. She slid her hands behind his neck and interlocked her fingers. She presses her body against his for leverage and lifts her body up until she is face to face with him.

_**L**_

They rub the tips of their noses accidentally but they enjoy it. She smells his face since she can not look at it and she faintly smells soap. He breaths on to her and as she feels the moisture on her face she smells the cranberry juice on his tongue.

Quistis knows that his mouth is open and so she slips her tongue inside his mouth before their lips even make contact. She licks his tongue lightly and he lets her without moving his at first. He wraps his arms around her waist and hugs tightly so she does not have to use all of her strength just to kiss him.

Savior walks slowly because Quistis is weighing him down. Though not a fat woman Quistis has fine muscle tone and so she is somewhat heavy because of that. And though Savior is a strong man he still may drop Quistis or fall over if he moves to fast. But to finally have Quistis sliding her mouth and tongue along his makes the slow trip very doable.

Savior only stops when the back of Quistis' legs hit the bed and they are thrown off balance. They fall against the bed and Saviors full weight hits Quistis' torso. She is not harmed but she says 'oof' and he lifts himself above her. So close to her he cannot look at all of her at once but just with her mouth open and the blindfold over her eyes she looks so provocative.

Quistis pulls her self from under him and pulls her body closer to the pillow and she lays her head against it. As she moves away from him he was close and so she feels the tips of his hair, it is straight and limp and probably about chin to shoulder length –her image of him changes again.

Savior follows crawling over her body like a predator mocking dying prey below it. Savior shifts position awkwardly and Quistis assumes that he is finishing stripping himself. She shivers outwardly with delight and without shame or embarrassment.

Quistis reaches under her back and unzips her dress; she pulls the straps down and pulls her body out of it squirming with impatience. In the next couple of seconds Savior does not pull off her undergarments so she assumes that he is moving too slowly. She sits up and undoes her bra quickly and tosses it in the direction that she thinks is where their clothes have been going. She feels around for him and finds him at once; she presses her self against him hard and kisses him again. Then her hands find his and she guides them to her ass.

"Take it off now," she whispers in his ear and she proceeds to chew on his ear lobe and she feels his hair on her face again and it's wonderful.

Quistis is pressed against him and sitting up on her knees. Savior cups her butt cheeks and hooks his hands inside her panties and pulls them down to her knees. She loses her hold on his ear lobe in the process but she makes due rubbing her face in his hair and smelling his scalp –she smells peach shampoo and guesses that Xu chooses to torture him by purchasing only girly toiletry products.

She lifts her knees for a moment and he slides them off of her legs completely, they are discarded somewhere. He brings his face back to hers and grasps her ass completely with large hands. They kiss again but with less urgency for they are less concerned with the upper part of their bodies at this point.

Deciding against teasing the poor man Quistis bumps her bush against his loins once very hard before she wraps her legs around his waist and pulls him down so he is on top of her and she is subdued on her back. She did not need to spell out for him that she wanted no more foreplay for now. Those weeks of visits to her apartment were foreplay enough before this.

In her eagerness she had wrapped her legs too tightly for him to move but she loosened her self and allowed him entry, he found the spot but he stopped there, and instead of entering at once he chose to be a bastard and tease her further. She almost wanted to harm him for not doing it at once but the whole experience was too long awaited and wonderful to ruin.

He ran himself along her labia up and down first; he would stop always at her opening for a moment but then he would go up again and give her clitoris the same treatment. He pressed firmly at both spots each time until she was grabbing him harshly, for he would only manage so much more foreplay.

Finally after rubbing against her clitoris for the fifth time he slid downward and pushed. Her insides were wide open for him and clamped against the end of him like a mouth sucking on something juicy. He kept moving gradually despite how she wanted him to simply find there rhythm thrust swiftly. She had to wait but not for long because she had already waited too long. He was in at least five inches now and she was finally moaning. She could not even hear her own moans, instead she felt the vibrations inside her throat and skull, and it made the sensation of sex so different from the other times.

Quistis considered doing it this way even after his mask came off, and come off someday it would.

But now she was content and this would be enough for her. She heard nothing and could not concentrate on the silence; she saw nothing and found the blackness completely uninteresting. Only the sensation in her and the smell of him above her had her attention. She could focus on every bump in his member's skin and as she first noticed it she was feeling the orgasmic sensations.

Quistis might have thought it courteous of Savior that he was saving him self for when she finally came but she was not thinking about that and so she prolonged the sensation for as long as she could. They lost track of time even as they began, and especially for Quistis all they knew was sensation.

They would not realize it because Quistis' black panties were covering her digital clock, but they had made love for forty five minutes before they each finally came. Instead of collapsing on her Savior would pull out of her and descend him self softly. She would hug him with her legs and her arms and he would worry he was crushing her though she is completely comfortable with his body smothering hers.

_**L**_

They would fall asleep for another forty five minutes. Quistis would awaken first and consider having him again but would decide that she needed to spend time with her friends too before their battle. Savior would Awaken shortly thereafter and convince her to have him again anyway.

They would get dressed accordingly –Savior first- and they would say nothing. Quistis would smile at him and take his hand. Savior would smile under his mask and hope that he would not lose her in the future.

But later Quistis would feel guilty beyond compare about this time of uncooked pleasure, because something happened while they were fucking each other.

Quistis is not going to make the discovery the easy way.

_**EG**_

Quistis is sitting at the bar and is finally allowing herself a drink. She has never had a splash of vodka in cherry limeade before in her life but it looked simply delicious and refreshing to her for once. She is not just sipping her drink like she normally would she is swallowing gulps of it. But she has not lost every bit of herself control for she will have this one drink and this one drink only.

She allowed Savior to break away once they were in the ball room again. He, after all, had other people to commute with –mostly students who wished they had him with them in their field exam that day- and she really wanted this drink. And unfortunately she needed to speak with a few people this evening.

Really she just wanted to go back to her room with Savior again. To have another date with him and that velvet blindfold. Her glass was nearly empty now and she daydreamed, so Rinoa had rather an easy time sneaking up on her.

Rinoa touched Quistis's shoulder lightly but in her state that was enough to cause alarm. Quistis jumped in her seat and turned around. She forgot about her drink but she would be glad that she had drunk it so quickly else it would have splashed all over her.

"Rinoa," she breathed being relieved for whatever reason. There were no enemies in the Garden so being startled was an unfounded feeling for a commander. Quistis regained her composure. "How are you?" she finished her drank and declined a second when the bartender offered.

"I'm fine," she said dismissively and sat down beside Quistis. "But how are you? You're a glowing woman," she spoke approvingly and was rather sure of what Quistis was so happy about. Really she just wanted to get Quistis to confess because it would make her feel giddy and happy for her friend.

"Well," Quistis began apprehensively but hinted that she wanted to spill it so Rinoa decided that she wouldn't even try very hard to pry. "I'm wonderful," she stated assuredly.

"Why?" Rinoa asked resting her head in one hand with one elbow on the counter, she could feel it coming.

Quistis only smiled for a moment and already running out of ways to beat around the bush she just said it. "I had sex with Savior an hour and a half ago," she said it bluntly and did not look at Rinoa when she did although she did want to see the look on Rinoa's face. For a moment Quistis wondered if this was how it felt to be Xu but she shoved the thought away.

Rinoa actually was a bit startled that Quistis was so blunt but she went with it. "Oh," she sounded surprised by how Quistis had said it and so soon rather than the topic, for it was the topic she expected in the first place. "Well how was it?" she asked rhetorically.

"Just what I had hoped," Quistis said and suddenly wished she had another drink but she still resisted.

Rinoa smiled to match Quistis, "I'm happy for you." She was about to elaborate but she saw Netta running to them, she only looked like she was trying to get to them quickly though she didn't look urgent.

Netta stopped at the end of the bar and didn't need to catch her breath, once she felt the air around her friends she smiled also without knowing what was so great. "What's up?" she asked innocently.

"Quistis got laid!" Rinoa said feigning a certain amount of excitement so as to embarrass Quistis if possible. Nobody over heard her but that would have been Quistis' concern.

"Shut up," Quistis said urgently despite her joy. Netta looked pleased in the same way she would be if she heard that they had saved money on car insurance but she was delighted none the less.

"Enough about me," Quistis said quickly and brought her attention to Netta. "What were you up to Netta?" Rinoa might have wanted to make Netta think that her business could wait but Netta clearly wouldn't have fallen for it.

"Well I was wondering if you guys had seen Zell, I can't find him," she wasn't worried it seemed, she just wanted to spend time with the man.

"I saw him and Irvine leave together earlier." Quistis was beginning to feel dread even as Rinoa said that, she wasn't so sure that Netta felt the same. "They were saying something about 'ending their conflict once and for all.'" For those last few words Rinoa adopted a 'mock men for their macho behavior' voice which Quistis was amused by despite her concern.

"They probably went to the apartment," Netta said like it was an epiphany. "I'll go check there." She sounded a mite excited but Quistis hoped she could stop her.

"No I'll go, I've been meaning to give those two a talk," Quistis said and stood to further insist that she go instead.

Netta stopped and seemed to want to go her self but she turned around to the bar. "Fine, just bring him directly to me, I don't care what their doing in there I just want to dance once tonight." Netta took Quistis place and ordered something suspiciously strong. Quistis and Rinoa almost made faces to each other.

"Be back in a minute," Quistis said quickly and she trotted in the direction of the dormitory area.

_**EG**_

Quistis took off her high heels as soon as she was out of the ball room and she ran to the dormitories. Once she found her self in the hall where she would find Zell and Netta's apartment and put them back on and walked fast to the door instead. When she stopped she was out of breath but she knocked really quickly anyway for she would not be embarrassed to not be composed in front of her foster brothers.

She stood outside until she caught her breath and the door was not answered. Quistis did not hear anything happen inside even. She brought her ear to the door and waited for a moment and still she heard nothing. Maybe they weren't in there she thought. She took her head from the door and for good measure she knocked again but louder and longer this time.

She stood there for a full minute and nothing. A number of scenarios went through her head then; first of all was the unthinkable which made her want very much to go inside with her master key card and check, second was they wanted to fight privately and were being quiet so nobody went in or asked them to come out, and finally they weren't in there to begin with.

Quistis could not shake the desire to open up the door, it was rude she knew, but she knew Netta and Zell well enough that she could open this door now without infuriating them. Her heart was in the right place after all. And if Irvine and Zell were inside having their insignificant duel she would be able to pull them by their ears to the ball room and force them to dance with their women.

Quistis is taking her master key card from the small purse over her shoulder, Quistis swipes the card through the slot once and the light comes green. The door slides open instantly.

The room is dark so she sees very little of the room, she does not register that the carpet in the light is red until she steps in it and hears the wet sound.

Quistis freezes there when she hears that sound, and the muscles around her eyes fight to stay contracted as they widen when the smell of blood and gaseous internal fluids climb in to her nose like tiny mocking devils.

Quistis does not want to see what she knows is before her but she is obligated to. She touches the wall to her right where the light switch is. She touches something thick and wet and her stomach clenches, she is crying already as she paws at the door to find the light switch. She almost falls over with frustration until she finally finds it. Quistis hopes to Hyne that her hand is not red like her dress but she knows that it is.

Quistis turns on the light which comes up dull and pink because of all of the blood covering the light fixture. Quistis hears her tears plop against the wet floor and she gasps, her stomach is knotted very unhealthily and her face is thoroughly wet.

The entire room is painted with a thin layer of gore.

Somebody was literally shredded or liquefied in Netta and Zell's apartment and spread all over it.

Every thing is covered. If Quistis were to inspect it now she would find bits of every part of the body. Shards of pieces of bone can be found, stomach acid and shit have their own designated spots mostly on the furniture.

But mostly it's blood.

Quistis is shaking now, she turns off the light switch and moves out of the apartment and slams her back against the wall in one swift movement. She slides down to her ass and ignores the blood she leaves from her hand on the wall and the streaks of it where her shoes are moving over the floor.

Quistis pulls her cell phone out of her purse with out even looking at it. She looks at the ceiling because it's clean, because it's white, because she doesn't have to worry that one of her brothers may be splattered all over it.

Quistis dials Xu's number, although the woman did insist on being at this party she is still very busy and is not doubt in her office now, the phone rings once and Xu picks up. "Hello," she sounds almost bored which might have confused Quistis if she were thinking coherently.

Quistis got straight to the point. "Xu I need you to have the PesticidE's and anybody else search the entire Garden for Irvine and Zell," she said it quickly but she enunciated well enough so that Xu would understand her.

"Quistis? What…"

"Do it!" she screams in to the phone and she shuts it closed. Quistis plops the phone in her purse not caring if it hits the floor instead.

Quistis covers her face in her heads but she retracts her bloody one when she notices again that it's bloody. Quistis settles for covering her face with one hand. Her face is contorted so much that an onlooker unfamiliar with her might have thought her ugly. Quistis would not have noticed anybody coming.

Quistis cries a large wet spot at the knees of her dress until she feels she has the energy to get up and close the door. She hits her head against the door and rests it there, she sobs so much she coughs and now she is hearing a different sound when her tears hit the floor.

"Zell," she says inaudibly as she gasps for air between two sobs. "Irvine," she whimpers after she coughs again.

Quistis' tears are a puddle in front of her feet.

_This is an interesting fact, in the last chapter I said that Joselyn 'was like a vampire horny with Helios' and I also indicated that Helios is Latin for blood. Well, this is funny, ya see not only is Helios not Latin, it doesn't mean blood -Sanguine is Latin for blood for those of you who care. Ironically it means 'Sun' and it's actually Greek. So I was essentially saying that she looked like she was aroused by a fiery death. Whoops. It's fixed now though. Yay for revision._

_*Reference to the great 8-Bit Theater by Brian Clevinger found at .com_


	12. Before The War

_Disclaimer & A/N: I don't own Final Fantasy 8 or its characters or Godzilla or Metal Gear Solid, there, I said it. All right guys, I'm really sorry, I realize that the upcoming lemon in this chapter is rushed but this chapter came really slowly and I simply needed something to arouse, err, um *Cough* *Cough* **enthuse** me. Honestly it's just filler because I didn't want to rush in to the war. Some big shit is happening next month after all. I realize this song is in bad taste. I love bad taste._

_If you were a woman reading the original version of this chapter you probably either got offended or laughed your ovaries out. The scene between Terra and Fujin needed to be changed a lot. Obviously told from a masculine point of view. It was pretty embarrassing honestly, I think that if you ate a girl the way Fujin was originally the clit' would probably pop right off._

_In case it's still like this I wish you'd review me and give me your opinion. I take my smut very seriously. Especially when I'm basing it in a game that children play._

_I wish I was a lesbian, and not a hetero.  
I wouldn't have to deal with men and all their come and go,  
And all their yucky, yucky facial hair and all their machismo!  
I wish I was a lesbian and not a hetero!_

I wish I was a lesbian and that I wasn't straight.  
I'd sleep with women only. Man, it would be great.  
I'd throw away my diaphragm, I wouldn't want to mate.  
I wish I was a lesbian, and that I wasn't straight!

I wish I were a lesbian, I'd like to be a dyke.  
I'd sleep with k.d. lang. Mel Gibson, take a hike!  
I think it would be nice to love someone who was alike.  
I wish I was a lesbian; I'd like to be a dyke!

I wish I was a lesbian, that's why this song is sung.  
It shouldn't really matter how somebody is hung.  
Other things are more important- like how you use your tongue!  
I wish I was a lesbian, that's why this song is sung!

I wish I was a lesbian, and not a hetero.  
I wouldn't have to deal with men and all their come and go,  
And all their yucky facial hair and all their machismo  
(I hate that machismo!)  
I wish I was a lesbian and not a hetero

_Wainwright Loudon, I wish I was a Lesbian._

**Part Twelve: Before the War**

**Accusations from the Gathering**

The morning after the SeeD inauguration was the worst kind of thing to happen to your side before a war. The loss of any amount of your more powerful soldiers is a loss for your whole army. It was in this way B-Garden's morale dropped like a dead bird the morning after the inauguration.

Three thorough searches of the entire Garden –all demanded by Quistis- found no sign of Irvine Kinneas or Zell Dintch. This hit everybody hard, not just their lovers and close friends, but every other soldier who would fight felt less powerful now that two of their legendary soldiers were gone.

Especially since everybody thought they had found them.

Quistis had finished crying by that morning. She had dressed and cleaned herself and taken care of her hair so it was not in grief tangles. But if somebody were to look closely at her face they would see the pink marks where her tears had scratched her.

Although she was still grieving more than most Quistis could not imagine how Netta and Selphie felt. Selphie must have had mixed feelings. They all knew that she was uncomfortable with Irvine flirting with other women. They all knew it was harmless –nobody knew this better than her- Selphie never felt threatened by Irvine's activity, she just wanted him to stop because she was bothered by it.

It may have been Irvine in that room.

Netta must have felt strange at the same time of her own grieving. She felt somehow at the center of this ordeal although she had actually done nothing. Truth be told she had asked Irvine to stop on more than one occasion but she still thought that she needed to push him away harder. Really she only thought that now, she had always thought it was harmless behavior and until now she hadn't given it any thought.

Netta and Selphie's relationship would never change because of this.

Netta had actually been happy about Zell being so protective over her despite how harmless she thought it was. She thought about how she would get the same protection from a genuine threat and she was very pleased. It made her feel that much more loved by him.

It may have been Zell in that room.

Part of the investigation of the Garden had found something else missing. In the hangar they counted one less Whelp than there had been counted earlier that day. It was automatically theorized that Zell could have murdered Irvine and then used the Whelp as a get away vehicle. It wasn't until Quistis stepped in that it was announced that Irvine had also learned how to operate the vehicles and that it was equally possible that he had done it.

Quistis was disappointed with other members of Garden –and on a sisterly level she was insulted- that they had not considered that people other than Irvine and Zell might have been involved in this.

She also felt as if the privacy of the heroes circle had been breached. Irvine had done this all openly and on occasion Zell would be aggravated by him openly so the conflict between them had never been secret. Since the gore was found in Zell's apartment it was no wonder they had jumped to the conclusion that they were involved. She understand, however much she disagreed.

Savior would point out for Quistis the discovery of Carbuncle's betrayal. This opened up the eyes of others to the possibility that there was another betrayer in the Garden. Perhaps another PesticidE since –as Carbuncle had proven- they were the ones who could most easily infiltrate the Garden since people from all nationalities were accepted by Xu.

This part in particular had people develop a sudden prejudice from anyone who had come to B-Garden from Galbadia.

Cody, Grave and Joselyn have chosen now to arrive at the scene of the crime where so many students and higher officials are congregated. The cadets could not be pushed away from the scene by the PesticidE's, only the junior classmen were convinced to go back to their rooms.

The door is closed but the fact of what was inside was enough to have people congregated around it. Everybody wants to know what is going to be done about this. Quistis still doesn't understand how the news got around in the first place.

Quistis, Savior, and a few other high officials of the Garden including Xu are the only ones allowed near the door. A number of other PesticidE's are acting as bouncers to keep lesser SeeDs and cadets who refuse to leave the area away from the door. The trio is rather annoyed that they are stuck in the back of the area. They have not yet caught wind of what happened.

Cody decides to do the talking as he always had when they were unaware of a grand happening within the Garden. "What happened?" Cody asks politely the first person they find in front of them. The cadet turns around wide eyed as if Cody were wearing a pilgrim hat.

"You don't _know_?" the cadet is very alarmed and he does not looked pleased about anything which has the trio automatically concerned.

"No," Cody says calmly, and reasonably.

"All right I'll just tell you the basics," the cadet turns around and counts his points on his fingers as he tells Cody; he seems to be ignoring Grave and Joselyn. "Irvine Kinneas and Zell Dintch are missing from the Garden. One Whelp is missing from the hangar, and Zell Dintch's apartment is slathered in somebody's liquefied body. Think whatever you want because that's what everybody else is doing," the cadet turns around and brings his attention back to what the higher officials are talking about. They note how angry he seems to be.

Joselyn is alarmed and says nothing, Cody looks the same and predictably Grave is nothing like his friends.

"Well, there goes our morale," he almost sounds like he doesn't care but his friends know perfectly well that he will be concerned about how this will affect the upcoming battle.

A pair of nearby people who had valued Zell Dintch very much turned to Grave and sneered when they recognized him. Everybody was aware that Grave couldn't care about either of the heroes in question and some of them thought secretly that Grave would have been happy to see something like this happen. But they didn't say anything because though his tone aggravated them his point was valid, it was just the thing on everybody's minds.

At the end of the evening Xu had come down to the inauguration party just before it ended and announced to everybody the situation with G-Garden. It was taken surprisingly well and it was assumed that the liquor in many of the students and SeeDs played a large role with that. Grave and Joselyn found out because of Cody who had shown up at the party. They had chosen to stay in their apartment for activity that they thought would be more productive.

"Well I quite frankly won't miss either of them but I do wish this could have happened at a less critical time." Grave does not consider the feelings of those around him and his friends are too preoccupied by the situation to scold him.

Back at the entrance to the gory apartment Quistis is still struggling to give out her orders. She has lost track of the conversation now and has decided that a simple outburst is the only way to earn the attention of her inferiors.

"Look!" she shouts and finally her subordinates have shut up, they have brought their attention to her and she decides to seize this moment before it slips away again. "We shouldn't even be discussing this if we don't know it's them, I know the situation seems to point to them but we need to have a DNA test before we should discuss this at all." They seemed to be paying attention to her now only because they were obligated to. Quistis was extremely bothered that they wanted to continue discussing the theory that her brothers had killed each other in a brutal and efficient way that they weren't actually capable of.

"No," that word was very quiet and gave the impression of a sentient teeter totter trying to keep a gallon of tears on its surface without spilling them, Rinoa slipped through a number of people in the crowd and stopped at Quistis's other side.

"We can't test the DNA." She speaks quietly but not so that only Quistis hears her. Everybody knows what Rinoa is saying but some need to cup their ears to hear her.

"Why not?" Quistis asks with the utmost calm that she does not feel.

"Because the machine that does that is sabotaged, we can't fix it either, we'll need to go to Esthar for a new one." Virtually all of B-Gardens medical equipment had come from Esthar in recent years. Some of which Rinoa had contracted behind Squalls back, he of course never noticed the Esthar medical insignia on any of the equipment when he would visit her in the infirmary.

"I see," Quistis said quietly and she continued trying to sound just as concerned and not like a saleswoman only feigning concern. "Are you sure that we can't fix it?" She was obligated to ask and normally she wouldn't make her friend second guess her own judgment, but this was very serious.

"Its in pretty much the same condition as the victim in there," Rinoa said it rather bluntly and didn't need to gesture to the door. Her voice hit Quistis so that she wouldn't want to reply to that. Quistis hoped that she hadn't struck a chord in Rinoa.

Sometimes in the back of her head Quistis would question if Rinoa was one of the orphanage gang at this point. She felt guilty in that same part of her head for thinking that but logically she thought it was justified. And it was a time like this that Quistis remembers that it doesn't need to take three years to love somebody.

"You can leave if you want to Rinoa, we don't need anymore of your expertise right now." Quistis spoke as gently as she could. Sometimes she forgot that her friends wouldn't manage or recover from grief as well as she her self could.

Rinoa only touched Quistis's shoulder and then she walked through the crowd again, and this time she didn't need to muscle her way through. Quistis looked after her until she was out of sight. Savior had the courtesy to speak for her until she turned around again.

Quistis simply cut in on the conversation without investigating what it was about because she was sure it was inane and offensive. "Look if you want to speculate then do it on your own time. We can't do anything about this right now and so we won't do a damn thing until we can. We need to plan for the upcoming battle anyway." Quistis cuts between a pair of annoying speculators to the card swiping device and she swipes through it with another specialty card that comes with her rank. A locking key card that forbids any card until it is deactivated.

Of course you could simply destroy the door and get in that way but they were yet to create a key card that could prevent that kind of entry.

An orange light appeared on the device signaling that the card had worked. Quistis turns around and glares lightning at the crowd. "Everybody will disperse," she shouts with authority that she never needs to use and so she doesn't seem her self to the students and SeeDs, each Treppie present leaves at once leaving everybody else for Quistis to shout at further.

"There is nothing here for you to see, all you need to know is that it may be gore from a comrade." Most choose not to take in Quistis's disposition now and follow the Treppies, but others watch her so they can fully understand how stronger their superior feels. Everybody but Savior and the trio disperse. Even the other high ranking officers leave, the trio doesn't bother to salute them and they don't seem to notice them to begin with.

Quistis is happy to see them and now that everybody has finally left the area she automatically shows it. Out of habit she approaches Grave first and hugs him quickly, she doesn't give him the time to hug her back and pulls away. Grave is rather unsure of what to do and Joselyn is grateful that Quistis didn't take her sweet time; Cody is simply amused by the looks on his friends faces respectively.

"I'm happy to see you three, so you've heard?" Quistis is actually speaking to all three of them; Savior has not yet been told by Quistis about Joselyn's implication of peace with her, and so behind his mask he is now wondering if it was the event last night that has her not being snappish at the tall girl. He stays behind as he feels disconnected from Quistis conversation now that she doesn't need his help.

"We heard just now," Cody says before Grave can -and Grave is glad, his lack of compassion may have made Quistis upset. Grave nods as a sign of respect for Quistis which she may have taken for respect towards the deceased.

"I want to investigate for my self but I need to prepare for the battle, you two were informed correct?" Quistis pauses before she asks and the nod, Quistis lets her self smirk at them. "I understand that you two didn't show up last night is why I ask." Joselyn almost blushes but Cody told her something else when he informed them about the upcoming battle.

"We understand that you weren't there for long either." Quistis is a bit alarmed by Joselyn countering her and the Trabian girl wriggles her slender white eyebrows, Quistis of course needs to imagine the right one wriggling as it is hidden.

Quistis casts a glance at Cody who makes an amusing face which is just as good as confessing that he had informed them of the information they had not business hearing. But none of them would be angry about this, fun was fun after all.

"Whatever," Quistis said to change the subject quickly. "I just wanted to make sure that you three will be prepared." Despite the fact that they are discussing an upcoming war that would claim an uncertain amount of lives there was no urgency in the air or her voice. It was strange to hear her saying this as an excuse to avoid the topic of her renewed sex life.

"Sure you did," Joselyn prodded happily knowing that she wouldn't be scolded somehow for it, she resisted the urge to wriggle her eyebrows again as Grave and Quistis gave her the same look at the same time.

As usual Cody was pleased to see the people around him putting on a show just for him.

Quistis lowered her head and covered her eyes with her long fingers. She reflected quickly the company she kept but had to stop since she had a place to be. She looked up to her former to find their countenances unchanged. "Seriously though," she began on the appropriate note that would have them listening seriously. "I don't want to lose anybody else important to me. Prepare your selves and do whatever you want to do before you die because we think the war is happening soon."

Quistis turned around and walked past Savior who followed her as she past him as if he were a thistle she had picked up walking.

Quistis had changed the mood with the teenagers she left behind but she had changed it comfortably. They were suddenly taking things seriously again and just as Quistis had told them to they were considering all of the things that had to be done in preparation for the upcoming battle.

"I'm going to go see Bridget, I'll see you guys later." They were all still looking in the direction where Quistis had already disappeared. Cody was saying this basically in their direction although he looked straight ahead with them.

"Yeah you do that," Joselyn said in the same fashion and Cody retreated in the other direction of the hallway.

Once they were alone Grave and Joselyn finally brought their attention on one another. Grave approached Joselyn before she could approach him and he put his arms around her waist, and his tongue balled up against the hollow between her throat and her collarbone. He turned his head upward and licked up her throat until he could lick no higher and his tongue was licking the air. Joselyn lowers her head so she can suckle on the tip of his tongue.

Normally one of them might have said something corny like, 'so, you wanna go prepare?' with enough innuendo to make them aroused before they even began to touch. But Quistis had set a sense of seriousness in to them. And so they would not be doing this for fun like they had in the shower. This time they would be doing it like they had the first time only for romance.

By the time Grave was feeling Joselyn up through her shirt they decided it was time they went back to their room. Really neither one would have any qualms with doing it there in the hallway for they didn't care terribly about other people's opinions. They would silently use the excuse that the bed was far more comfortable than the marble floors.

**Blame Kingdom Hearts II**

_**Squall has awoken into another dream more than once in his life, but this was the first time he could remember being aware that it was what was happening. Although he saw the sights and felt the breeze and heard the fighting and quarreling of the two boys before him he knew it was his mind. He knew it was Ellone showing him things and not his own manifesting into the physical world again. He knew that this only FELT real.**_

_**Squall recognized the memory instantly. But for the life of him he couldn't imagine why Ellone thought it was important for him to see it again. To be truthful he couldn't quite decide why she had chosen to show him any of these memories. Squall thought he would need to ask his foster sister about all of this someday so he could have some clarity, yet he knew he would hesitate since it would be a bit dingy for him to need an explanation after she went through the trouble to SHOW him.**_

_**Squall could imagine her sisterly frustration which she could somehow magically turn in to affection. With just enough spite to make her still want to embarrass him. Come to think of it Rinoa did that too… and Quistis and Selphie seemed to try to do it as well but he had never thought about them doing it until now. Always women had that power.**_

_**Women are strange, Squall thought not for the first time, and the sound of a familiar young voice awakened him to the vision and he remembered he was missing it.**_

_**Ellone was showing him something that happened when he was fifteen years old, Seifer was sixteen. At that age, at that time, it was customary to not be trained with weapons yet. Their Guardian Forces stirred in them to develop their Special Skills but were dormant.**_

_**At that age the students were rather embarrassed to fight each other with foam rubber rods, staffs and other assorted safety versions of weapons, but it was all they were allowed. This memory was a good example of how much of a shit Seifer gave about that rule.**_

_**The pair were the only people in the gym at the time. They stood facing one another atop a wide circular rubber platform –a precautionary environment that Squall knew they still used currently- they had their patented facial expressions and stood in the fighting stances they would continue perfecting well in to adulthood… however any sort of coolness they might have felt was ruined by the foam weaponry they were wielding.**_

_**Squall literally laughed looking at him self, and when he looked to Seifer he laughed more. That stance Seifer had chosen was the most arrogant one possible. There was no real offense to it and certainly no defense. It was really just mockery and an eagerness to fight. Squall remembered tripping trying his own stance. It looked very easy when his instructor had showed him, but the bend in the knee was unnatural and so you would fall to your knees if you faltered.**_

_**Obviously, Seifer loved it when Squall faltered.**_

_**Squall obviously loved it when Seifer left himself open thinking that Squall wouldn't get back up.**_

_**Squall looked to Seifer and couldn't help but giggle again. Seifer used to wear a ski cap with a Trabian character on the front. He always told people that it stood for fire and that he bought it himself at a shop in Deling City on a field trip. Squall remembered looking it up himself on the internet to find that the character really meant 'Fujin.' Squall never found out that Fujin had sewn it for him herself.**_

_**Squall wondered absently when exactly Seifer had stopped wearing that thing, Squall wondered if he still had it, where ever he was.**_

_**Squall saw himself charge for Seifer as he most often did. Seifer never did enjoy fighting defensively but it was still his habit to attack his enemy first, he enjoyed countering. It must have been because it was a sign of failure in his enemy which he hoped to make them recognize. Seifers strategy was always to bring down his enemy before cutting them up.**_

_**But Squall remembered that at the time he felt as if he were at the bottom already. He would fight Seifer because he thought his rival should know that the people on the bottom could be a force to be reckoned with too.**_

_**Foam hit foam pathetically making the faintest of sounds, it made the fight less than exciting. Squall swung at Seifer many a time and Seifer continued to block or evade. Sometimes Seifer would barely block and sometimes Squall would barely make contact at all, they were still in training obviously. Duels later in their lives would prove more exhilarating and with fewer mistakes and slips.**_

_**They were children who felt obligated to be men just because they had begun to look at girls differently. Squall wondered why boys seemed to think that a new voice and a little more hair made such a big difference.**_

_**Neither landed any blows even after Seifer began taking the offence. At one point Squall faltered his stance and he fell to his knees with Seifer around his side, Seifer swung for Squalls head but the moody child was quick enough to turn his waist around and block effectively. Squall watched him self fall forward on purpose so he could roll over and recover to his feet. At the time he couldn't see that Seifer had tried to attack him and miss. Now he had the opportunity to witness it although it changed nothing to him.**_

_**Squall remembered the next part even more vividly than he did the duel. They faced each other again and Squall took his defensive stance again and this time he did it better than usual, but he made no move because Seifer had stopped, his non-weapon was lowered and he looked rather frustrated.**_

_**Squall remembered how strange he felt speaking to Seifer almost like a friend, "What's wrong?" He asked sounding stupid, deeply stupid to Seifer.**_

_**Seifer looked annoyed at Squall for multiple reasons and the biggest one was how Squall dared to sound like they were friendly. But he would only call attention to what had bothered him so much as to have him lower his 'weapon' during one of their duels.**_

"_**Aren't you ticked that we have to fight with these fuckin' things?" Seifer gestured to the foam thing in his hand as he cursed and he tossed it over Squalls head not caring if it hit him or not and Squall ducked out of the way. Normally an adult would be around to complain to Seifer for cursing so casually at his age but Squall said nothing.**_

_**After pausing for a whole fifteen seconds Squall decided this was not a trick to create an opening and so he stood up straight and took a moment to examine his own toy. Truth be told Squall was never entirely bothered by using the toys but he did understand what Seifer was feeling. Sometimes something in him would tug at him to try and find the real thing. But Squall was not a mischievous student and honestly did not care enough to find the cold steel.**_

_**Squall watched the repeat of that day and would get to observe how Seifer managed to be his exterior tug. Watching himself now he would likely be a bit embarrassed to be swayed by the taller boy.**_

"_**I don't think it's too hard to tolerate," Squall watched himself say. "When the instructor thinks we're ready he'll give us real weapons." Squall was matter of fact about the situation and really wasn't treating it as a situation at all. What the Instructor said was the way of things to Squall because they had never really done anything unreasonable in his opinion.**_

_**Seifer however was never one to listen to the instructors in the first place.**_

"_**He's a hack, all of the teachers here are." Squall would normally retort to Seifer that Seifer had no other point of reference for what a teacher was like other than the kind the Garden had, but Squall remembered that it was at this point in time that he gave up on trying to be reasonable with Seifer Almasy. Whenever anybody tried to be reasonable with Seifer he would tend to think they were trying to insult him.**_

_**Squall remembered this was the first time that he didn't bother to say anything to Seifer. He had hoped that not arguing with Seifer would eliminate the argument. He had actually discussed this with an Instructor and Quistis who by then was a SeeD a whole year and they had agreed with him that it was a sound theory.**_

_**Spectral Squall shrugged, 'Live and learn I guess.'**_

"_**Come on mop-head, even you're worth more than that." Seifer said, pointing to the foam toy in Squalls hand.**_

_**Smaller Squall considers the toy again but still appears unimpressed by Seifers point. Seifer noticed this and decided after what must have been an internal struggle to show Squall a certain amount of intelligence that he didn't like to show to people other than his two close friends.**_

_**Well, they were his only friends actually thought both Squalls simultaneously, but that really wasn't the point.**_

_**Seifer readied him self to trick Squall successfully which he couldn't often do. "Think about it practically," practically, it was that last word which would ultimately convince Squall to join Seifer on their little exploit. "We're good enough to practice with real weapons, and if we DO practice with real weapons this early it'll be like getting a head start on everybody else."**_

_**It may have been a low trick on Seifers part to convince him with practicality in order to break the rules. Up until that point Squall always thought that the rules were suitably practical. But it was then it came out there was something that Seifer and Squall had in common. They both felt obligated to be skilled and reliable to others –although Seifer's interest in others was secret at the time- and there was greed in them that would make them excel at whatever cost.**_

_**Squall wasn't yet ready to go with Seifer but he was toying with the idea by now. "What are you thinking of doing?" Squall tried not to sound very interested yet and really he wasn't but Seifer was looking at Squall as if he had already convinced him.**_

"_**I know where they keep the arsenal, and I got the instructor to tell me yesterday that all of the gunblades are in the back." Squall's eyes light up at the word gunblade. This was the interest they had in common which was no secret.**_

_**Seifer thought he had Squall the whole time but he hadn't officially taken him until the word gunblade had left his mouth. Normally Squall wouldn't be swayed by anybody and certainly not Seifer but Squall was too fascinated by the unusual weapon to care that he'd be spending time with Seifer in order to see one.**_

"_**Fine, where are they?" Smaller Squall ignored Seifer's look of triumph but Spectral Squall decided this time he would examine it. With thought Squall teleported behind him self and watched Seifer, he realized that he hadn't missed much when ignored Seifer back then but something made him want to look this time. He saw nothing out of the ordinary really.**_

_**Normally when Squall thought back to that day Squall wondered if Seifer had brought him in to that area to harm him with one of the real weapons. If he had raised a weapon when he was behind him perhaps but he never could have known. Squall wondered if he could find some treacherous intention on his face. All he saw however was the usual arrogance.**_

_**Perhaps Ellone would show him enough now so he would finally see. Seifer led Squall out of the training area and Spectral Squall just watched them for a moment, he waited until they were out of sight and he made him self disappear from the rubber platform and reappear where he knew they were walking.**_

_**The arms of the young boys passed through him when they strolled down the hall, Squall turns around and watches them. Nobody had been around then and it was good because seeing those two walking civilly together would surprise anybody, and would no doubt have produced countless shounen-ai/yaoi jokes about opposites attracting. Young people would say anything for a laugh these days it seemed.**_

_**In those days the entire arsenal that was not already located to a person was in a large locked room on the second floor. Everybody was in class but them at the time –Squall remembered they had both been excused from their class for fighting, they had been placed in the training area with foam toys to work out their frustration and to come straight back to class.**_

_**Squall remembered that the teacher was meant to stay and bring them back or to assign somebody else to do that and then escort them back to class, but the teacher needed to teach the more behaved students that day and couldn't find somebody to stand in for him, so the rivals were left their alone.**_

_**They had expected that the two would stay there –or rather he must have simply hoped- Squall also remembered that they were never caught; they had gone back to the training room before the teacher said he would come back for them. Back then Squall had considered that Seifer may have been right about the teachers to some degree for letting them have the opportunity to do this.**_

_**Maybe they thought that Squall with his reason would simply stay and that would keep Seifer there as well, Squall laughed thinking about that. Seifer could have and would have left with out Squall if he had simply refused and Squall would have let him go. Back then Squall hadn't thought about this though, these thoughts were only for Squall right now. Back then Squall was only concerned about not getting caught and to see the gunblades before they needed to head back to the training room.**_

_**Their foot steps had made unnervingly loud sounds in the atrium but there were no PesticidE's back then and the faculty had been stingy at best when they were younger. It wasn't until they had actually earned their real weapons that the faculty had become useful for discipline. Squall wondered even then how well they were getting away with that, part of him was actually disappointed back then that the faculty seemed to do nothing.**_

_**Seifer had always been very vocal about his dislike of the faculty even when they did nothing; in fact that was what he would complain about. Squall absently wondered if that had been his inspiration for taking of the disciplinary job a few years later. As they rode the elevator Squall sent him self to the bridge above him and forgot about what Seifer thought about the long gone faculty.**_

_**The elevator opened with the ding that never changed and the boys passed through him again and this time he followed them conventionally with his feet as if he were solid and needed to walk. **_

_**Not once did Squall think about how hard it would be to adjust to reality after having this much fun teleporting and floating around. In the back of his mind he must have thought that the transition wouldn't be so bad.**_

_**They were in the circular hallway passing classrooms; Seifer was no doubt silently enjoying how he was so near so many people who would be aggravated that he was loitering around rather than being in class where he belonged. He grinned largely when they passed the door to the class room they were meant to be in at that hour.**_

_**Squalls facial expression was the same as it was normally over the years albeit a bit more wary for being out and about instead of in his designated area. It wasn't often he did this but now Squall wondered if his face looked like that anymore. He imagined they would during his paperwork, Squall realized for the first time during his ordeal that when he returned home finally he would have to work again, if only for a little while before he quit, and suddenly he didn't feel so rushed to go back home.**_

_**They were outside of the door when Squall remembered that he had actually told Ellone about this day before. And he wondered if that was the reason she was showing this to him now. She must have thought that it was important for him to know if Seifer had brought him to that room back then to harm him.**_

_**Over the years Squall felt it was less and less important until he never thought about it, but now that he had the opportunity to know it seemed important to him again. For the first time during these visions Ellone was showing him he felt anticipatory about what would happen next.**_

_**Squall looked to Seifer who was reaching in his pocket for something and thought to him self, why is Ellone showing me so much of you? What is so important about you?**_

_**From his coat pocket Seifer produced a card with access to the armory room before them. He grinned to Squall like a trouble maker looking to a boy scout and grinning superiorly. Squall would have been insulted to be referred to as a boy scout.**_

"_**Where'd you get that?" asked Squall genuinely wondering how Seifer had managed what was most likely a theft.**_

"_**I swiped it from the teacher's desk when he wasn't looking, the guy is such a nimrod." Squall did not argue with Seifer about the teacher this time because he would agree it foolish to leave anything valuable within Seifers reach.**_

_**It was that day Squall decided that when he had his own gunblade that Seifer would not be trusted near him with it, he would go so far as to secure the weapon to his waist with two extra belts if that was what it took.**_

_**Of course Seifer never entertained his thieving skills so Squall never had to worry about being pilfered. Seifer had even insulted the revolver when Squall first got it implying further that he couldn't seem to care about another persons weapon. But Squall still decided that the multiple belts were a necessity for another reason, inane as it may be.**_

_**Spectral Squall loops his hands through his belts defiantly in Seifers direction.**_

_**Seifer simply swiped the keycard through the lock and the door was open to the pair. Inside the arsenal was set up much like a grocery store. The different weapons were dedicated to their own aisles and each aisle was rather long. Unfortunately the gunblades were not at the front of the line and so they would need to explore a little bit as dangerous as it may have been.**_

"_**I heard that they're way in the back," Seifer said in a normal tone of voice which Squall quite frankly thought was too loud for this little expedition. Squall might have scolded him but he remembered that it would be pointless and would only reap insults from the blonde boy, and on an entirely different note Squall was more concerned about what Seifer had said.**_

"_**Great," Squall said ungratefully, he had come to see their future weapons but he was only getting more worried about getting caught, the longer it took the more Squall thought that he wouldn't get to see them.**_

_**Spectral Squall noted how funny it was to him now how juvenility clashed so much with deadliness. It seemed so surreal and cartoony –and on top of that rather creepy since he was looking at him self being this way- for these young versions to seek out deadly weapons as if they weren't deadly at all. At that age a sword is nothing more than a symbol of coolness. The notion that hurting another person is bad was not something taught to young ones training to become mercenaries.**_

_**Spectral Squall realized he was lost in thought and so when he looked up he found the younger versions gone without him. He sent himself to the spot where they would be by now and followed them down the aisle ways. Really he could have led them to the spot, this was a memory that Squall revisited him self often. Although remembering your self and being sent by alone were two very different things, Ellone would create the illusion for you that you were really there for observation. A real memory is too scattered to capture these sorts of details.**_

_**Although this was just a memory and he knew it Squall felt as if he were there again. He could feel the nostalgia like it was reality. The fluorescent lights could do nothing to him here but he squinted from them as a natural reaction. He could make out every little detail which even a dream couldn't capture. This room was just as it was.**_

_**And of course no dream could capture the very whiteness of this room. Squall knew it still existed and he knew it looked the same. Despite the nostalgia Squall might have thought that Ellone was sending him to a memory that might have happened yesterday.**_

_**After a minimal amount of small Squall grumbling about getting in trouble they made it to the gunblade aisle. Squall sensed a certain amount of disappointment coming from them; and then he remembered feeling that same disappointment then, it was entirely unimportant but the boys thought that the weapon they deemed coolest should have had a special spot in the area. Gunblades were thrown in to an aisle and set in the room like any other weapon, Seifer and Squall would have liked to have them set in a differently shaped altar with a spot light and placed in the center of the room. It made them seem unimportant to set them like any other weapon.**_

_**This disappointment however was minor and in fact incidental. They did not really think about it, it was a fluid thought in their minds passing through like a single salmon in the river. It might have passed by again later but even then it would not be considered so much.**_

_**Weapons were not categorized by upgrade; in fact no Garden carried upgraded versions of weapons except for in a very special room. The matter of upgrading was always up to the owner of the weapon and this room held weapons that were new and never had owners. Instead they were categorized by model. Squall saw his favorite at once and stopped on the end, Seifer strolled until he was in the middle of the aisle and he found his favorite.**_

_**They would not visit the special room but Squall had to on a few occasions when he was still just a commander. Whenever a soldier with an upgraded weapon died in combat and they did not leave it to anybody in particular, then the weapon would be sent to that room. Sometimes they were claimed or offered as items of honor. But most of them simply sat there to be tended to by misbehaving students receiving punishment.**_

_**Needless to say Seifer was familiar with this whole area simply because of that.**_

_**Squall was completely oblivious to Seifer for the time being because he was fixated on the Revolver. Spectral Squall stood behind him self and examined it with less enthusiasm than his former self. It was actually an older model of the Revolver than the one he had. In fact a newer one had come out during his years as Headmaster. **_

_**New models did not qualify as upgrades, Squall remembered the girls –Quistis was particularly valiant about it- trying to explain that to Zell who never fully got it and remained in the opinion that a new version of anything automatically qualified as an upgrade.**_

_**Squall cracked a smile thinking about Zell. It would be good to see the doofus again when he finally got back.**_

_**Hell, he'd even be happy to see Irvine, despite how troublesome he had been as of late, a friend was a friend after all.**_

_**Squall thought back to the revolver at once, I will be able to see everybody soon he thought, so I should just concentrate on this memory while Ellone shows it to me. The older version of the revolver was built more the way Hyperion was. The gun portion of the weapon was not yet altered back then and so the hilt was bent more resembling an actual six shooter. The blade was mostly unchanged.**_

_**Had the revolver not looked so old fashioned that older version of it might have attracted Seifers attention as well. But Seifer was more appealed by the modern looking design Hyperion which loaded with a magazine and was not later altered to be held more like an actual sword.**_

_**Squall took the time to observe the earlier version of Hyperion as well. The situation with the Hyperion was much the opposite of the Revolver's change. The gun had never been changed but the blade was modified significantly. In those days the Hyperion's blade was more like a claymore with a rounded tip; the place where the tip would normally be was where the opening of the barrel was placed.**_

_**At the time the Hyperion was a newer type of gunblade entirely. It actually went through five updates before the final version –the version Seifer ultimately purchased- was brought to the soldiers market. In this memory Seifer is sixteen years old which means that the Hyperion model went through more changes in a shorter amount of time than any other weapon in the market.**_

_**Squall remembered vividly how the Hyperion model was cut from the soldier's market list entirely after the second sorceress war. Squall always thought that was a foolish move to make. If anything demand for the weapon would be higher after being made notorious by Seifer. But the public chose to fear the memory of that destruction and to show their fear by pretending a tool they created didn't even exist.**_

_**At least B-Garden had the dignity not to pretend that they had nothing to do with Seifer Almasy. Squall thought that if they did then he would have lost quite a lot of respect for his home.**_

_**Squall had looked it up and he was right, the value of a genuine Hyperion of any model had skyrocketed on the black market in the past three years. The soldiers market was making a very big mistake he thought; the Hyperion was obviously a cash cow these days.**_

_**Squall wondered absently if Seifer, wherever he was had resorted to selling his dear weapon for money. He didn't bother to wonder anyone would bother to steal it from him.**_

_**Squall watched him self innocently admire a weapon as innocently as anyone could do such a thing. Neither of them paid the least bit of attention to Seifer at this point, and that was when Squall remembered why he was in this memory to begin with. He turned his attention to Seifer immediately and remembered something he never saw.**_

_**Seifer had reached up to the Hyperion and dared to take it from its place on the display. He was young yet and so it was too heavy for him to swing which he found out promptly, but it would be sufficient for close admiration.**_

_**Now was that moment that Squall wanted to know about. He watched Seifer closely; the younger version took aim for the weapon across from the gunblades, it was really for the sake of sighting since that would in the future become important in his fighting style, although an onlooker would think that Seifer just wanted to destroy the nunchaku's.**_

_**Squall knew that Seifer did love making fun of the nunchakus.**_

_**When Squall wondered about this he imagined Seifer sneaking up on him with the weapon. He might have imagined him with a sinister look on his face, or even more likely an angry one since Seifer always had trouble letting go of things that bothered him. And Squall had beaten them in their duels before. He imagined him suddenly bringing the gunblade behind his back the way a cartoon character might in order to feign innocence.**_

_**No matter how long he waited Seifer did nothing out of the ordinary. He did no sneaking or even gesturing towards Squall with the weapon. In fact Seifer seemed mesmerized by his weapon in the same way that Squall was mesmerized by his. Seifer seemed to have forgotten about Squall as if he didn't exist or as if he simply wasn't important.**_

_**The latter would have been effortless at any point in their lives.**_

"_**You're afraid to pick it up aren't you?" Seifer stated mockingly and he swung Hyperion unimpressively, Squall turned his head and missed it therefore missing any opportunity to mock the blonde one. Squall assumed that Seifer was happy about that judging by the brief look he saw on the boys face.**_

"_**I just don't want to drop it, those things are heavy and you know it." Squall may have said 'you know' in place of 'and you know it' but it sounded less appropriate since Seifer was toying with his own weapon that whole time.**_

"_**You're a wuss," Seifer said as if to conclude the discussion with finality and he toyed with Hyperion with so far absent expertise. He seemed to think that he could get the hang of the weapon within the space of the fifteen minutes they had to be in the armory.**_

"_**We shouldn't take these things with us, we won't have time to do this." Truth be told Squall hadn't wanted to do this from the beginning, he had only agreed to go because he wanted to SEE the weapons since their instructors were too stingy to even do that for the students.**_

"_**Another time then," Seifer decided for some reason to ignore that opportunity for an insult, both Squalls decided it was because he was in a good mood because he had his fun toying with his future weapon.**_

_**The scene faded as Seifer placed the Hyperion in its rightful place. Squall was in nothingness again but he still felt that sense of travel. He awoke within his dream.**_

And awoke from such wakefulness to what must have been reality in a blender. And he was the chunk which refused destruction and simply spun in the infinity of matter and energy. He felt like he was traveling through a cosmic tube.

He and Seifer never did that again and so they never took his suggestion to get a head start with their weapons. Although they would make up for it in the future with their sparring… if what they did could be considered sparring by anybody but Seifers standards.

_So Seifer was more innocent than I gave him credit for_, Squall thought. It would be yet another thought to chew on as he traveled back home, back to his job, his family, his lover.

Squall tried not to think about conflict with Galbadia Garden. He didn't want to be absent for that. It was too important a thing for a leader to miss out on no matter how good of a reason of absence they may have.

Squall was not a praying man and so he did not pray now. But like any human he hoped, he hoped that things would be as fine as they could be when he was finally back.

**The Wind and the Earth**

Fujin wanted to beat her head against the door in front of her but she knew if she did then she would need to give Terra an explanation on why she was doing it and she really didn't want to explain. She had the shyness of a lover who was not yet comfortable with her partner which was why she wouldn't want to explain, and unfortunately that in itself was an example of why she wanted to indulge the self abuse.

Not ten minutes ago Fujin was alone in her and Raijin's apartment. Raijin had left for work a half hour beforehand and would stay their until late in to the night –the work on building a new Whelp was important because of the one lost the previous night, and in Zells absence Raijin would have a lot of work to do making the new bird.

_**L**_

Fujin had been in her bed; her shirt open and he strap-less bra pushed down over her stomach exposing one breast, her left hand pinched her nipple and her right was teasing her labia inside her pants when she wasn't circling her clitoris. She thought of Terra, robe-less and on top of her biting the buds on her breasts and sliding her fingers along Fujins nether regions with hot enthusiasm.

Fujin had felt so much heat –especially in her pussy, the spot on her forehead just above her small nose; she was imagining the extra moisture like all of the sweat on their skins, and the saliva on one another's breasts and mouths. She imagined even more of her loin's moisture and how it would coat Terra's fingers like, like caramel on a cool sour apple.

_**L**_

Fujin was literally one pant away from climaxing when the phone rang, she spared her left hand and brought the phone beside her bed to her ear, then she had realized that her ear was covered by her own hair so she had to bother sitting up and shaking her head first. The motion of sitting up had her hand stroke her which, if not for her profound self control, would have had her moaning embarrassingly directly into somebody's ear.

And that ear would have been Terra's who Fujin might have been the most embarrassed to moan into. She was recovered from the shock of touching Grave the previous day –she refused to speak about it after her recovery and Fujin refused to pry. At first the phone conversation was awkward because of Terra had asked if she was interrupting Fujin of anything, Fujin hesitated in saying that she had not but that hesitation made Terra realize that she was lying. They went on for a bit about how if it were true she would have simply said so but Fujin managed politely to ask Fujin what she was calling her about.

Terra urged her in her own natural sounding way that they needed to join at once. Fujin asked if she could have a few minutes but Terra insisted it needed to happen at once and she hung up with rudeness which didn't seem normal for the half human.

So there she had been, her clothes undone, her hair ruffled, and she was knuckle deep inside her self. Terra would be there very quickly which gave her no time to finish what she started and so she would need to face the beautiful woman at the peak of arousal.

Fujin had the time to wash her hand, secure her clothing and brush her hair before the dainty but firm knock came to her door. Fujin was annoyed that she hadn't thought to wipe her loins dry before hand and now she couldn't do it without having to explain to Terra why she hesitated to let her in the apartment.

And now Fujin stands on the other side of her door. Terra is on the outside and waits to come in with her. Fujins face is still ablaze pink from arousal, and she realizes that the moment the half human came into her apartment that she would have much trouble listening to what she had to say for her desire to make the woman come.

Fujin considered slamming her head against the door one more time before she pressed the button which made it slide open to reveal Terra. She looked very serious as usual but something about her seemed soft, and close in the way of intimacy which needless to say was not helping the pulse Fujin felt inside her belly.

"We should speak now," Terra said seriously but with softness easily taken in as if she were speaking whipped cream.

Terra did not come in and Fujin remembered then how polite the woman was, of course she would not enter without being invited. Fujin stepped aside and gestured with the hand that had not opened the door for Terra to join her inside and Terra entered with her usual grace but of an unfamiliar urgency.

Fujin decided that Terra did not need to tell her to close the door so she pressed the button to slide it shut and she followed Terra's footsteps. Terra strode to the large loveseat beside the couch and chose one side.

This loveseat was never occupied by anything heavier or more alive than a jacket so it was as plush and in as good of shape as it was when it was first bought. Terra automatically showed how comfortable she was, Fujin tried not to think about Terra being comfortable.

Fujin would have chosen a different seat but Terra patted the other cushion of the love seat and so after a moment of hesitation Fujin took her place beside Terra. She sat more effeminately than she normally would, if another person were there they would have seen Fujin mirror Terra's posture.

They were silent and awkward the same way new lovers are before the first touch. Fujin felt shaken internally at this analogy and decided to speak up first.

"What brings you here Terra?" Fujin adjusted herself so she was facing Terra and after establishing eye contact finally Terra adjusted herself in the same way. Before she spoke she opened her mouth but said nothing, averted her eyes. Before she closed her mouth Fujin savored the appearance of Terra's small tongue. It reminded Fujin of a small moistened pink cake.

Terra brought her eyes back to Fujin's and this time she had applied thought to her speech. "I have decided to fight with you when your war begins," she stated simply and boldly, Fujin didn't think at once, but once she did she wanted to think that Terra could be talked out of it, then she realized how illogically she was thinking.

Fujin didn't want Terra to be hurt, but for her affection she forgot who she was looking at, her lust had her only thinking of _what_ she was looking at. And what she looked at was a fine morsel she wanted to roll around in her mouth and never swallow and taste forever.

Fujin could not hide her chagrin that Terra would be sharing in her danger when the day came so she spoke with it. "That's good news, Garden will be honored to have such a powerful ally." Fujin bowed her head momentarily as a nod of respect but really she wanted to avert her eyes for a moment from Terra's questioning look.

"I can tell that you're concerned about me, and I'm glad of that but know that if you try to stop me from helping I'll be insulted." Fujin saw herself in Terra then, and with the respect she had for this woman she wanted never to insult her.

Although she had fantasized more than once of the playful mockery that lovers bat around, in fact, lately, solely because of Terra Fujin had been fantasizing about a lot of things she didn't give much thought to in the past.

"I don't want to insult you, I'll be honored to fight alongside you." Fujin almost bowed her head again but Terra held her eyes as if their pupils were connected by a sharp wire that would harm one or the both of them if she gestured her head in that way.

"Fujin," she paused, whether she meant to thicken the mood or not it happened, at least it did to Fujin. "Despite what we are we can still die, and if death comes to us then I don't want us to think of regret." Terra stopped then knowing that she left Fujin openings for multiple questions with her message, and her countenance said that she would answer those questions in full.

After being with Terra for a few days she knew she would have her questions answered so she did not feel any urgency for certain points of what she said, Fujin decided that she would ask her questions in the same order that Terra had raised them.

"What we are?" was all she decided to say for putting anything else in to it would seem nothing but melodramatic.

"We are half Esper Fujin." Terra takes Fujin's hand in hers and that strange sensation of rippling comes from the contact again. Fujin does not take her hand away this time and Terra does not let go. Terra runs her fingers in circles on the inside of Fujin's palm and creates patterns with the sensation. It wasn't alarming anymore; it was beginning to feel natural and still very pleasant.

And it certainly wasn't dull yet.

So that is what this means, I am magic just like Terra and this must be how magic reacts to another kind of magic when it comes in contact, she thought to her self while still enjoying the feeling Terra was offering.

Fujin was temporarily unconcerned about her arousal, although she was still very, very much aroused.

Realizing what she was Fujin was not shocked, she always knew that she was special magically somehow but she never assumed how or why. She had trained her self personally, without Tudor to apply the power of wind she had to fighting with her shurikens. Not long ago Fujin recalled slaying that grat with the stars in her sleeves, she did not throw the smaller weapons, and really she just sent them gliding across wind that she manifested her self.

It was like discovering how a microwave works. Until you are told that detail you only know about the affect. Knowing how her power worked did not make her power different to her. This was just clarity and an answer to the question she had asked many a time but had ultimately given up on. Eventually Fujin decided that she was special somehow and that was all there was to it.

She had spoken with Seifer about it and to begin with she only told Raijin that she was that way, it wasn't until Seifer wasn't around anymore that she decided to actually discuss it with the darker one. Part of her was disappointed with the rest of her for considering him too stupid to have something important to say about her.

Seifer of course could never wrap her hands around her situation. After speaking with her about it once –she never got a word in edgewise her self- Seifer decided that it didn't matter why she was the way she was if there wasn't nothing wrong with her.

Seifer always told her and Raijin that there was nothing wrong with them.

Fujin was quick to follow Seifers logic because just like him she was entirely ignorant of how magic worked. Even after she studied it she didn't understand. It was something that would gnaw at her occasionally just like the first day she would study magic; she felt some hope that she would discover something about her self.

But she never found anything and so she always fell back on the logic that she should just be happy that she was powerful and healthy.

This never occurred to her, not for a moment didn't she think that half of her body might be made of wind magic. She tried to wonder if she ever considered she might have been like Terra –Fujin had of course never met any parent of hers that she could remember hence her orphan-hood- but she had not although she had known about Terra ever since a very young age.

Momentarily Fujin imagined herself being smaller and younger while would look just as she did now but she did not hold that image in her mind for long. She stowed it away in one corner of her mind farthest to the left and brought her attention back to reality.

I found somebody like me before I knew what I am, thought Fujin. She looked meaningfully to Terra and she did not feel embarrassed with Terra reflected to look back at her. Fujin's mind was not exactly on her attraction at the moment despite the arousal she was maintaining. She was not maintaining her arousal on purpose of course…

"Well," Fujin said breathlessly not realizing that she had seized to breath. "That answers that." She laughed a bit and surprisingly Terra laughed the same way with her. Terra gave that same countenance saying that she wanted Fujin to ask her more but now she was jovial as well so Fujin felt less apprehensive about asking her.

Fujin thought about the next question that Terra had posed for her; Fujin realized that she could die on the battle field before Terra had told her what she was and now that she knew she hadn't thought she would be immune to death. Fujin was left only to ask the last thing that Terra had mentioned, and it was of course the part that interested her the most.

"What do you mean by regret?" She asked tentatively, Fujin hoped to hear the answer she was fantasizing about, and the sensible part of her did not bother to bring down her hopes, rather it leaned against a proverbial doorway and watched to wait for the hopes to fall and crash without assistance.

Fujin expected another straight answer but the entertaining suspense she felt was enhanced instead. "That brings me to why I came," Terra did not seem normal today. She had her usual grace and assurance when she spoke but now she was hesitating, she gave the impression that she had not completely thought through what she wanted to say and so now that she was speaking she had no thoughts to phrase.

Fujin didn't want to embarrass herself by saying out loud that Terra may have homosexual interest but the temptation to do it was powerful. She might have broken but Terra did eventually arrange her thoughts.

"I have decided to give you what you want." Terra seemed to think that she had chosen the perfect words but she had only raised another question. Fujin wondered what it would be like to communicate this way every day of her natural life. Part of her thought that it would be painfully maddening but mostly she thought it would just be a change like any other, just another hurdle to jump before she died.

Fujin opened her mouth to pose another question but she decided that she didn't want to create something endless so she laughed a moment and she said what she thought was wiser. "Terra I don't want to be rude but could you be a lot blunter?" Fujin smiled and was happy when Terra didn't make a displeased face. Rather Terra just looked amused and happier even.

Fujin thought that Terra would speak again but instead she took one of Fujin's hands, she closed her eyes and she kissed Fujin's middle three fingertips. In that moment Fujin's heart soared so high it might have crossed paths with Seifer's ego -had he still been at the academy.

"You want to make love with me correct?" Terra was not looking at Fujin now and Fujin was grateful for that, for she was sure she would collapse like J-ello in a microwave if she would. Terra kisses each of the three fingertips she had placed in to her mouth, "Fujin?"

"Yes," Fujin says, hesitating. Terra kissed another fingertip. The time for questions seemed to have passed but Fujin could not resist asking, "How?" 'Did you know' were the unspoken words. Terra interrupted her knowing what she meant.

"I have seen the way you look at me," She said mirthfully, devious like the irresistible villain. "And I have felt the way you feel about me the same way I have felt my kind so strongly in this academy." Terra took Fujin's pinky which was the only finger she had not yet touched and she nipped it affectionately with her small front teeth. "I can feel the suspense in your loins." When Terra said loins Fujin early lost it again, Hyne her voice did so much to her she couldn't imagine what she would feel like when she started touching her.

Terra press Fujin's hand to her neck so Fujin can paw her. The swirling sensation combined with the smoothness of Terra's cream neck is beyond mental description.

Terra makes eye contact and smiles at Fujins face knowing she is no longer trying to hide from her what she has felt and known all along. "I hope this does not disappoint you Fujin but, despite how old I am I have never been with a woman. I have seduced men over the centuries when I felt I needed the pleasure but before you I have never encountered a woman who wanted me this way."

_Details, details,_ thought Fujin dismissively.

"Oh that's fine, no need to worry," Fujin dared to lift her hand but she did nothing with it, Terra nodded and smirked at how tentative Fujin was being. Fujin moves her other hand to the other side of Terra's neck, she squeezes with her palms and rolls the muscle beneath her skin around until Terra closes her eyes and let a pleased breath escape her mouth.

Fujin was close enough for the breath to hit her nose and roll across the rest of her face like many carpets of mist unfolding over her skin, it felt divine. Fujin stopped massaging Terra's neck and pushed her hands through her thick curtain of hair and ran her fingers down to the tips of her hairs until her fingers were free, she ran her hands from Terra's upper back to her shoulders and pulled her body up against Terra's.

Fujin made the move to lie atop Terra and she complied for her by lying down and resting her head against the arm rest on her side of the chair. Fujin decided she would be bending her back badly to lay her knees against the other armrest so she allowed her legs to come from the chair, she suspended her body their by putting her toes on the carpet and by wrapping her arms around Terra's head.

Fujin collected Terra's hair and let it fall over the arm rest and she ran her hand across it before she wrapped her arms around the other woman's head.

Terra's eyes were closed, her lips open. Fujin suddenly felt unsure of herself but at this point hesitating to kiss the woman would be stupid.

Or perhaps she just wanted to humor her, Fujin didn't care right now but when this was over she might.

Fujin licked her lips twice very, very slowly and she made sure that Terra could hear her doing it, she took an intake of breath through her throat and blew softly over Terra's throat. Fujin stopped blowing at the hollow of Terra's throat, she kissed it and pressed her tongue against it, Fujin slowly left a trail of kisses up Terra's throat, then her chin, and she kissed the curve between her chin and her lower lip.

Fujin licked her lips again for blowing against Terra had dried them a bit and then she kissed her. They both had very small lips; it was much like a pair of soft gummy candies, one moistened pressing and sliding against each other. At first they did not move and Fujin feared that Terra wasn't enjoying herself and merely being awkward, but she turned her head at one point for a better angle for kissing Fujin and she made the tiniest moan.

It was little encouragement but it was still encouragement for Fujin, she brought her right hand from Terra's head and slid it down her side and squeezed her hip. This earned her a more audible moan, she slid her hand up to the flesh over Terra's kidneys and she squeezed there too. That time Terra made a cute squeak, but she did not break the kiss. Fujin would not dare to do squeeze Terra there again.

Fujin knew Terra wasn't just humoring her when squeezed her close; Terra was clearly enjoying it so she couldn't have been being treacherous. She was especially sure when one hand went to the back of her head and stroked her hair while the other ventured lower and abruptly squeezed her ass.

The kissing stopped for the first time then because Fujin made a spasm that arched her back, nobody but Fujin -and the one other lover she'd had- was aware that was a tender area, and even he hadn't thought to squeeze her. Once she stopped arching she saw Terra looking a bit concerned but that concern went away when Fujin slid her hand beneath the cushion and Terra's ass and she squeezed her back.

_How sweet she is,_ thought Fujin.

Fujin kissed Terra again and this time she licked the other woman's lower lip hoping to coax out the other woman's tongue. For a while Terra simply let Fujin do that, she squeezed Fujin as close as she could and let her lick her lips and wipe the tingling sensation across those thousands of nerve endings. Eventually though Terra began licking Fujin's lips too and their kissing became caressing with the tips of their tongues.

They were creamily serene for so long, Fujin forgot her urge temporarily, and so it reminded her by way of an orgasmic sensation that slithered inside her belly and coiled in to a large ball. Instead of another spasm of her back Fujin pressed her groin hard in to Terra's so the other woman was nearly fused with the seat she laid on, Fujin found Terra's ass with her free hand and squeezed it hard enough for the other woman to react the same way she would, and she pressed her mouth hard against Terra's like she wanted to swallow the other woman's tongue.

In that moment Fujin wasn't thinking at all, she couldn't worry if she was being too rough and this was perfect because as far as Terra was concerned this couldn't get rough enough.

Some of that concern crept back into Fujin and she stopped kissing Terra and she opened her mouth as wide as she could and closed her teeth over Terra's shoulder. She didn't bite hard enough to break through the fabric or to bruise her through it back she was squeezing the muscle quite a lot, Terra only felt better.

After the miniature orgasm subsided Fujin let go with her and kissed Terra's neck. She pressed her tongue against the skin and sucked on the woman's flesh as if the taste of her were nutritious, she swallowed and imagined the flavor of her skin sliding down her throat and nestling in her belly.

"How might I please you?" Terra finally whispered, Fujin smiled slyly then because she realized that Terra had sensed that would happen to her, she decided to let that happen because she wanted to feel her react that way.

_What a devil she is_, thought Fujin. And she felt no need to get back at the other woman.

_**L**_

Fujin arranged herself so that she lies on her back, Terra embracing her from behind. Fujin unbuttons and unzips her pants; she squirms her hips attractively and pushes her pants down to her ankles.

"Just do what you'd do to yourself," Fujin whispers with more confidence than she has ever spoken to Terra. She takes Terra's right hand while Terra slides her other arm under Fujin's lower back and she grasps her hip so she can hold her on the love seat with her. Fujin guides Terra's into her underwear and she pushes Terra's hand so her fingers rake through the white pubic hair. Fujin spreads her legs for Terra and she allows her head to rest in the crook of Terra's shoulder. Fujin is closing her eyes, Fujin breathes softly against Terra's neck.

Terra slides her fingers into Fujin but spreads her fingers before they can touch her clitoris. Slow, slow, slow. Terra spreads them and runs her fingers agonizingly, gently, up and down, barely touching the flesh, just stirring the quim.

Fujin is breathing heavily freely now, she knows her orgasm will come shortly when Terra finally stops teasing her and finally touches the sweet spots. Fujin kisses Terra's cheek wetly and licks her saliva off of Terra's cheek; she licks and kisses her the same way again.

Terra presses her fingers hard enough in Fujin' that she's making full contact with the flesh. Fujin gasps and clutches Terra's shoulder she kisses her cheek again for the same reason she bit her shoulder earlier, it has infinitely less of the relieving effect but that's what Fujin wants this time, this time she wants ache with the pleasure.

Terra presses deeper …

Fujin gasps and bucks against Terra's fingers and just about screams when Terra takes her hand away. Really Terra feels power hungry now; she was not expecting to have so much control. Now that she knows she thinks she needs to exploit it as much as possible.

In the back of her mind Terra wanted to keep teasing Fujin mercilessly until the other half Esper begged but Terra had never been one to make people beg -even making them beg for pleasure, it somehow seemed just as cruel as making them beg for death. Terra always wanted the ones she loved or adored to simply be happy. But now it wasn't just happiness, but satisfaction she needed to give… she'd never done this before, this affectionate energy in Fujin was more unstable than anything else Terra had ever encountered in her life.

_It's dangerous to get this close_, Terra thought.

_But that's why, that's why it feels right, and necessary._

Terra slid her middle and a ring finger into Fujin to the knuckles, her index and pinky brushing the creases between thigh and groin.

Fujin bucks against Terra's hand again and this time clutches Terra's hand so she won't take it away again.

Fujin is a hairs breath away from sitting up, taking hold of Terra's hand and forcing her to get her off finally but she is afraid she will ruin the moment for Terra so she only continues to buck vainly, slowing down, throbbing just as hard.

Finally, Terra decides that she has put Fujin through enough. Terra brushes and squeezes Fujin's nipple through her shirt, strokes Fujin synchronously with her bucking hips…

Fujin gasps, groans, she whispers, 'Terra, Terra,' she whimpers, 'Terra,' directly in her ear as if she is suffering and asking her for help.

Fujin groans loudly as her orgasm quivers in her belly. She would collapse if she'd been sitting up. She rolls over on Terra, their breasts squishing, and kisses her a lover's kiss. Terra kisses back and brings her dry hand to the back of Fujin's head which she strokes affectionately; Terra doesn't take her other hand away, deciding Fujin isn't done being tickled. She continues to rub Fujin and she circles her opening with one finger but she doesn't try to make her come again. Just a gesture of affection.

Fujin finishes the long kiss firmly and opens her eyes just a bit, she sees Terra also with hooded eyes and wants so much for this woman to give her another orgasm but that will wait. Now that she has Terra she no longer knows sexual impatience.

"Thank you," Fujin whispers to caress Terra's lips with her breath, Terra squints cutely and cocks her head to one side to suggest that there is no thanking in order, and she is about to say so.

"You are very welcome Fujin," Terra begins and Fujin can detect Terra's oncoming modesty as well as a bird would detect an oncoming tornado. "But there really is no need to thank me for that, I actually thought you were rather attractive flailing all over me and I had not expected either of those things." By 'either of those things' she must have meant the flailing and the fact that she enjoyed the flailing as separate things, Fujin assumed.

Terra is so sweet about it all, Fujin finds it cute that such a creature could be this modest.

And they were just starting, go figure.

"Well I hope you didn't come here only to make me happy," Fujin whispers and she ventures her hand to the rope tying her robe together. Terra makes no move to stop her and her face shows no amount of alarm, not even the pleased kind, she is only registering that Fujin is undressing her and only shows that it doesn't bother her.

The rope comes undone easily and Fujin unveils Terra's body. She is rather disappointed but unsurprised to find undergarments. Instead of a bra she has a more unconventional garment which is much like a T-shirt though it lacks elastic. It is a light gray color; with very short sleeves, a low neckline so that she can wear and remove the garment over her head through the material that does not stretch, and to Fujin's pleasure there is complete lack of material over Terra's lower back and stomach. Fujin sits up –Terra has not removed her hand and Fujin does not want her to- so that she is sitting on Terra's bush and she glides her palms over the smooth belly.

Terra's stomach has more fat on it than Fujin had expected but she is not turned off by that. If she presses down she can make out strong abdominal muscles and is she rolls the skin and fat over Terra's belly she can see the imprint of those muscles. Fujin likes to gather Terra's skin and fat and knead it like dough; Terra seems to enjoy it mildly and is unashamed of the excess matter.

"Being what you are, I expected less fat on you." Fujin does think it a bit dangerous and possibly insulting to say that. But Terra had been inside her; at this point nothing should be embarrassing or insulting from now on.

Ideally.

Luckily Terra thinks it not a faux pa at all; she smiles nicely and brushes some of Fujin's hair to one side to watch it fall back in place again. "I am still human Fujin, being half magic does not negate the development of excess body matter." Terra cocks her head to one side and changes her facial expression. "Does it disgust you?" Fujin does not realize that Terra is just trying to mock her and Terra for the first time is finding it funny how Fujin can behave around her.

Fujin's eyebrows shoot up in alarm. "No, no, no!" Fujin is genuinely alarmed that she has implied disrespect for Terra's divine belly and Terra loves every second of it.

Terra begins to think this may work, she is not used to being doted upon but now that she has somebody to do it she knows she values it. _However did I do without this?_ She has seen other spoiled humans thriving on the affection of others and she thought it quite rude how they would not return it. But Terra had been something of a monk for many instances of her life and so it wasn't until now that she realizes it isn't something you return exactly. There are doters and there are receivers of doting, if she were to be unlike those she disrespected than she would simply have to show appreciation for it another way, because Fujin would probably not appreciate it the way she did.

Terra realized after musing for a while that Fujin was still concerned about having insulted her and that her ignoring Fujin was probably worrying the poor white beauty even more. Terra touched her fingertip to Fujin's lips to shut her up in the middle of her apologetic ramble and she smiled serenely at her new lover.

"It is all right Fujin I was only joking with you, I can sense how you feel about me after all." Terra hated to think that she wouldn't be able to worry Fujin this way for fun now that she was reminding the other woman about that, and in the back of her mind she thought how unusual a change that was in her for she never before wanted to bother other people for fun, and certainly not a lover.

It was all in good fun however and she knew that when Fujin smirked and playfully pinched the very belly they were talking about. Terra had never brought pleasure from a relationship this way before, it felt very nice. It made Terra wonder if this was another sign that Fujin was ideal for her. She had never been like this before, never.

"Well," Fujin began without having a way to continue, when you are planning on seducing somebody impromptu it isn't very easy to get your act together. The words and gestures for getting somebody into bed are not normally something you improvise.

"Well?" Terra inquired knowing exactly what Fujin was trying to get at, she would of course not help her for she was beginning to really appreciate watching Fujin squirm in all the ways she did that.

With something of an epiphany Fujin decided how she wanted to do this, there was a point where it might get awkward but she assumed rightly that she was at a point where awkwardness would not interrupt the romance. To begin with, she regrettably removed Terra's and she stood up.

She would also need to remove her pants from her ankles if she were to walk, she was grateful that she realized this before she tried to stand up. In a most comical fashion she shook her feet together to gradually wriggle her pants from her ankles; they had bunched up quite a lot so it was taking a while. Terra began to laugh out loud just a bit as the process dragged on and Fujin was thankful that the garment finally fell from her legs before the joke became boring to Terra.

Once her pants were off she stood up beside the love seat and maintained eye contact with Terra without trying. Fujin felt remarkably silly for feeling embarrassed in that moment, she intended to remove her shirt in front of Terra but she felt she couldn't, she had to remind herself that she was looking at a woman who moments ago had her fingers inside her. When she realized how silly she was being it was easier to bring her fingers to the first button.

Terra spread apart her robes exposing her legs and a pair of shorts held on her hips by a string. She brought her feet to the floor and lifted her self from the chair with out the use of her arms and as she elevated to stand up right her arms slid out of the sleeves of her garment and it was left on the chair as a wrinkled ornament. Terra began unbuttoning Fujin's shirt for her.

It didn't last long for the presence of the beauty before her but she remembered a certain dispute between her and Seifer which had never actually resolved, it was of course Seifer who would not admit to the silliness in question. Fujin took a look at Terra whose face was so close but looking at the opening blue shirt and working at the bottom button. Fujin decides that now is not the time to think about anybody else at all, even Seifer.

Once her shirt was undone Terra pushed the garment off of Fujin's shoulders and Fujin allowed the sleeves to slide over her arms and the shirt fell to the carpet behind her. They were wearing two scant garments each now, their bliss in nakedness and water would come shortly.

_And so will Terra_, Fujin thought with much arrogance and every intention of the pun. Normally she would hate he self for even thinking a joke like that as she was now but she was in too good of a mood to swat herself for bad taste.

Terra's eyes were hooded and her face was flushed, Fujin imagined that hers was flushed much more but there was a very good and obvious reason for that. But to know that Terra was blushing even a little made Fujin that much happier. Fujin could still not get over the fact that Terra actually _wanted_ this.

Fujin put her arms around Fujin's shoulders, she brought her hands to the base of Terra neck and brought her fingers up and she raked them through Terra's hair to the top of her skull. Fujin pushed her fingers outward all the way through Terra's extremely long hair. Once she manages to work her fingers out of the green locks she brings her hands to the top of Terra's head and works the hair. She is trying to complete the image of an aroused Terra by mussing up her hair, but Terra's hair is rather heavy so Fujin is getting a minimal effect but this woman is just so luxurious…

Meanwhile Terra is grasping Fujin's hips and working her fingers under the band of her underwear. Terra squeezes Fujin's hips and smirks involuntarily at the happy sound Fujin makes from this. Fujin grasps Terra's scalp and kisses the other woman delicately but hungrily. Terra mostly allows Fujin the work of kissing but she does kiss back distractedly, fumbling with that last garment.

Fujin stops but keeps their faces close and she says, "Come to the shower." Terra might have said 'okay' but Fujin kisses Terra again, harder this time and when she takes her face away she lowers her face to Terra's breasts and licks the length of her cleavage. Terra grabs Fujin's hips and when Fujin leaves her for the direction of the bathroom Terra follows her only behind a few steps.

Fujin's bathroom is not unlike any other B-Garden SeeD apartment except it is not decorated very much. It is spacious enough that the toilet is five paces from the sink and the shower stall is three paces from the toilet. The door is the same distance from the sink and toilet and the sink is just the same with the tub. Fujin opens the door to the plastic shower stall and enters it to do battle with the faucets to get the temperature just right. Terra closes the door and stands in front of it and she passes the time by admiring the buttocks of her new lover.

Before Fujin, Terra had never had this kind of interest in a woman, and it wasn't until this moment that Terra had acquired such a fond interest in the human butt, male or female

–although obviously female appealed so much more right now. There was always some quality she saw in masculinity which she was drawn to. When she was interested in a person for whatever reason she had always chosen men because of that quality. She had never questioned what that quality was and for the most part she didn't even realize it was one quality. All this time she had thought that it was masculinity itself which she was attracted to.

Terra still wasn't quite sure what that quality was, but she had found it in Fujin. Although Fujin was not really masculine in any way that Terra could see, she still seemed ideal as an intimate partner for life.

And on that note Terra thought about one of the other reasons why Fujin seemed ideal for her, and that was for Fujin 'life partner,' really meant '_life_ partner.'

Being half Esper meant being something of an immortal. Disease tended to swerve from you and your countenance; aging becomes non-existent once you've reached your mid twenties, and the notion of bodily failure of any sort is literally impossible. The only way an Esper or a half Esper can die is if they are killed, hence Terra's concern about regret earlier, although she had the fullest confidence that both of them would return from the battlefield alive with wounds healing as the wounds of immortals and semi immortals do.

But she had lived long enough to know that confidence did not always save lives. Sadly, with many of these cases it was a former lover of hers who could not be saved by confidence.

Terra wondered when she would tell Fujin exactly how old she was. She could feel that Fujin was still very young, so young that she still had a few years before her aging halted. It might hit the white beauty hard somewhere to know that the woman she now adored had seen centuries pass.

Actually, Terra was not sure it would hit Fujin terribly hard –at least it wouldn't make her lose interest in her- Terra found out during her stay in Balamb Garden that she had been studied and searched for by them for a long time so they had a rough idea of her age. Fujin came off as somebody who had studied her for more reason than her romantic and sexual interest –or rather hopes- so once she thought about it, Terra thought that Fujin wouldn't mind about her age very much.

Terra still felt embarrassingly self-conscious about giving her the precise number however.

Terra wondered when she would tell Fujin about her own immortality. Most people probably didn't realize how much Fujin was capable of caring but Terra did because Fujin had shown her at once. Fujin was clearly just picky about those who she cared for. And those who she cared for would have a lot of attention from her. Fujin cared very much, so Terra was worried how Fujin was going to react when she told her she would see the death of every one of her friends.

One might think that Terra was concerned about this due to enduring such an agony but really it was only something she had thought of in the shower the day before –which was the same time and place she decided to do this with Fujin on this day. Terra was raised by Espers, all of which still existed today and many of which resided in Balamb Garden –her father and Pandemona were among them.

Terra smirked when she thought of Pandemona and she felt that very being curl away somewhere in Fujin ignoring all the happenings of the physical world around him. He was always extremely polite that way.

Another thing Terra was unsure of when to tell Fujin was that Pandemona was her father. Hence her natural power over wind. Terra realized that humans had unusual insecurities about privacy from their relatives sexually and some weren't used to family affection at all. Terra had grown up and lived her life with such a strong connection and awareness of her people that she had never had a taste of such privacy and so she wouldn't know if she would desire it.

In fact Terra could sense now her father in the same building; he had no interest in the exact activity she was involved in, and no concern about hiding his presence from her, he was only pleased to feel how happy his daughter was. And Terra was not embarrassed that her father was so aware of her in this way.

Fujin would no doubt crack if she found out she'd been having sex with her father in the room, and inside her brain for that matter. Terra wondered if she could work that insecurity out of her eventually but the fact was that she probably wouldn't manage that for a long time. And she would have to tell her sooner than that, unless if Pandemona decided to do it himself.

_That would be the most appropriate way to do this,_ Terra thought. Terra brings herself back to reality once Fujin has adjusted the water to be just right and she uses the time she has left to admire Fujin's behind before the white beauty finishes turning around.

Fujin notices that Terra was looking lower than eye level and she smiles a bit shyly but with equal joy. "What were you doing?" She asked with full sureness of what Terra was doing, she wanted Terra to say it and Terra would.

"I was admiring your butt," Terra says matter-of-fact and she watches with more joy when Fujin manages to blush more even with all of the steam heating up the room from behind her.

Fujin beckons Terra, backing into the rising steam.

Fujin is a strange but beautiful woman, was all Terra chose to think on the subject, and she complied with Fujin's beckoning soon enough that Fujin would not begin to worry.

Terra puts her arms around Fujin's waist and she grasps either hip, smashing their bodies together. Fujin loops her arms around Terra's neck happily and does the same with Terra's shoulders, and this time it's Terra who begins the kiss. Fujin cannot have enough encouragement; Terra has figured this out very quickly.

Terra holds Fujin as close as possible and with each squeeze Fujin dares to kiss Terra more savagely. Fujin takes Terra's lower lip and sucks on it softly, strokes the space between lip and chin with the tip of her tongue.

Fujin takes her arms from round Terra's shoulders and she reaches behind herself and undoes her bra. The straps dangle from her back but Terra is pressing herself so strongly that the bra stays on. Terra smiles lustily and arches her back in an incidentally attractive way and lets the bra slide between their bellies.

Terra admires Fujin's breasts then as if she has never seen a pair before in her life. Fujin realizes that it is her breasts now that have Terra's attention and that is proven when Terra does not seem to notice Fujin's hand when she grabs her bra and drops it to their feet.

Terra is surprised by how small Fujin's nipples are; a shy bit larger than mosquito bites. She doesn't want to say anything because she worries it may insult. She has heard girls called 'mosquito bite tits' before and she never quite grasped what they meant by that. She wants to ask Fujin if this is what they meant, but not only is it probably insulting, this is hardly the time.

Fujin's pubic hair is sparser than Terra had expected because the only point of reference for feminine pubic hair was her own. Terra would say that for her 'bush' is the greatest description for her own patch not only because of the color of her hair.

Terra only realizes that she's been lost in thought once Fujin approaches her and pulls the string undone that holds her under shorts up. And before she can begin to discuss her conundrum it is revealed to Fujin immediately.

Fujin does not make a face but she does look at that region for a long time with a look that Terra can not read but she does not worry because she _can_ read Fujin's emotions and those have not gone sour.

Terra's groin did not look terrible although if she were entirely human –and therefore entirely insecure- then she would have thought so. She might have said that her crotch appears to be engulfed by a plant but that is not exactly right. Her legs and even the line between her loins and legs are sparse of hair. What would be her bikini line is bald as well but the hair she does have is quite thick. Fujin is still extremely attracted to the other woman, but for one comical moment her arousal is the last thing on her mind and she thinks-

How on earth am I supposed to get my tongue through that?

Ultimately this will not prove a problem but Fujin and Terra will later find it a very fun topic of private conversation.

Terra steps out of the shorts gathered at her feet and the motion has Fujin looking away to a more important matter. Terra lifts her arms so Fujin can swipe her under shirt off. They are finally ready for the shower.

Fujin wants to put her hands on Terra's fine breasts at once but instead she takes the other woman's hands and brings her into the steaming shower. The water is not hot enough to burn but there is so much steam they can hardly make each other out. They only faintly see colors and they are left with only the shapes of one another to really admire.

Fujin puts one hand to one of Terra's breasts and squeezes it softly more for her pleasure than for Terra's. She takes the nipple in between her thumb and index finger and rubs it very softly and doesn't stop when Terra puts her arms around Fujin's hips again and kisses her face until she can locate her lips.

Fujin puts her other hand on Terra's shoulder but she keep the other on the breast for she has waited far too long… come to think of it she's only been waiting for like two days… but despite that the suspense has had her hands hungry for Terra's breasts and she's not going to let go now.

Terra finally finds Fujin's lips again and Fujin takes to kneading Terra's breast instead for a greater sensation of her own hand. Fujin is surprised by how aggressive Terra is now, and she is now especially surprised by how well she did when they were on the love seat. Obviously the unique sensation had something to do with it but to Fujin it was more than that.

Fujin reaches with her other hand behind Terra and shuts the door of the shower and soon the octagonal shower stall is a transparent chimney with white smoke. They might have been able to make each other out, but they choose to keep their eyes closed, and they choose to look with their hands, without sight.

Fujin waves her foot behind Terra before she takes another step and with great relief and satisfaction she feels the designed for making shaving and masturbation more convenient. Fujin pushes Terra against the edge of the seat and pushes her down a bit. Terra obeys.

Instead of sitting in her lap like Terra had expected Fujin gets on her knees. She puts her hands on Terra's hips and squeezes and she leans over and places her lips around the nipple she had ignored earlier. She sucks extremely softly, occasionally nipping at Terra's pink skin. She loves that sound, always wants that sound to be a treasure.

Fujin takes her mouth from the nipple with one last loving lick which lasts to the very tip of her tongue. She moves her mouth to Terra's cleavage and she licks downward to Terra's belly button, she wriggles her tongue in the inward bit of flesh and tries to nip at it with her teeth but she can not reach it, nips the skin of her belly instead. Fujin kisses lower, and lower, by the fourth kiss Terra understands and spreads her legs for Fujin.

Fujin kisses around Terra's pubic hair to her left inner thigh; teases her with kisses, then licking, then a few nips and a final kiss. As she kisses and licks and nips she moves further up Terra's thigh but with the final kiss she moves to the other thigh which she gives the same treatment. Terra is getting impatient, breathing more heavily, it isn't the steam.

Terra puts both legs over Fujin's shoulders and pulls her closer, strokes the white woman's scalp roughly with her fingertips. Terra is making the softest most pleasantly agonizing sounds. Fujin simply will not make her new lover wait.

Fujin puts her fingers to the tangled hairs and pulls them apart gently for access to the soft pink meat. Terra's vagina looks no different from any humans and Fujin isn't surprised or disappointed by that. It seems rather wrinkly and browner than one would expect.

Fujin puts her fingers in the labia with her hot wet fingers and Terra gasps just a bit. Fujin spreads the labia apart more for her eyes than for Terra's orgasm. Fujin spreads Terra apart as wide as she can without causing any pain.

And she sees the most stunning display of pinks she has ever laid eyes on. Fujin runs her fingertips around Terra's outer labia and touches the inner layer the same way, she dares to put one finger inside and Terra makes a louder gasp than the others ones. Tentatively Fujin curls her finger just a bit only to elicit another gasp, but she stops there.

Fujin removes her finger and finally she puts her lips against Terra and licks from top to bottom. Worms her tongue inside, runs the tip of her tongue back up and once she touches the pink nub at the top she presses her lips around it, swirls her tongue slowly, firmly.

As she had run her tongue up the labia Terra had grasped Fujin's head with her fingertips and gasped open mouth with just the hint of a squeak at the end. Fujin wants to giggle with the girlishness she hides out of habit, part of her wants to ruin the moment but the rest of her cries sacrilege. _Ruin nothing, don't you dare ruin anything for this amazing creature who has wrapped her legs around your head._

Terra doesn't thrust her hips like Fujin does; her movement with her pelvis is a slow rolling like a snake slithering in place. She doesn't make jerky movements, nothing that would break their rhythm. She falls under her orgasmic trance like a heroin high.

Terra puts her butt back on the seat and her breathing becomes more even but remains rapid, she pants and moans continuously, Fujin still hasn't stopped.

"Again," she pants between moans and only after a moment's hesitation Fujin kisses Terra's clit.' This time Fujin doesn't stop and Terra presses her loins against her mouth again, this time she speaks to Hyne with her moan.

They will never know that Hyne is listening, and smiling on her children, she is very amused by how they thank her for the pleasure they give each other. How funny.

Eventually Terra evens her breathing and takes her legs away from Fujin. Fujin looks up to her and she sees fatigue and relief on Terra's face. Terra slides off of the seat and in to Fujin's lap, her legs are wrapped around Fujin's hips. Their groins are pressed together again and they will probably become tangled but they aren't thinking about that right now. They wrap their arms around each other and Terra hides her face in Fujin's neck.

_**L**_

They stay there for a long time and contemplate melting together in the heat. Occasionally, Terra kisses Fujin's neck and in turn Fujin reaches with her mouth to chew on the tip of Terra's ear. Terra doesn't speak for a long time but when she does speak again it is the last thing they say to each other that night.

"You know," she finally whispers as quietly as can be in Fujin's ear. "The men never did _that_," there is much emphasis on 'that' and Fujin laughs because she simply cannot help herself.

_Girls are better at it. Sad but true._

Despite herself she thinks of Seifer again and how the old fool said how he hated the taste of pussy. She loved him, but he was a fool about some things, she wondered if he still was.

Fujin was reminded of Terra when the other woman squeezed her tightly and kissed her neck again. Fujin sighs and doesn't nibble the ear this time. Instead she feels at Terra's back and tries to sense her heart beat, and when she focuses hard enough she feels it, she feels it the way she hears, it is distant but resonates with something in her.

She is reminded of something soft jumping inside a paper box. Something tender in something fragile, something wet breaking through something dissolving. Something sensitive that endures the oxygen everyday but never hardens on the outside.

**Like Police**

The following morning Quistis awoke after sleeping for only three hours. She was perfectly alert although she was thrown off when she opened her eyes to darkness. She had forgotten briefly that Savior was with her again and that meant wearing the blindfold –not that she minded of course- it also meant wearing the things in her ears and she vowed after that never to sleep with them again for they become uncomfortable when your head molds to them during the melting hours of sleep.

Her ears still hurt a little bit on the inside but it would subside in time for the battle, she knew it was subsiding already. She had not yet told Savior about it since it would no doubt strike up an unpleasant conversation of the possibility that she would hear his voice. Before such a big fight she didn't want any awkwardness between her and her lover. When they survived and were cozy in their bed she would discuss it with him, but not yet.

Quistis stands in the cock pit side by side with Xu. It has been many months since they have seen green land outside of the training center. Some part of them is exhilarated to see it, but that part of them is abruptly extinguished when they remember they will be scattering it with blood and the elements, it won't be green for very much longer.

They have not said a word to each other and they won't. The time for talk was the time for planning and the time for planning is over. All they know is that Galbadia still relies very much on machines so everybody is junctioned with Thunder magic. Those equipped with Thunder Espers will be sent to the front lines.

The pilot stops the Garden once they are on land and have plenty of room for two armies to fight. And the pilot rotates the Garden one hundred and eighty degrees and they are secretly surprised to see how closely their opponent has been following them. They must have known that they were ready to stop and end it all.

Quistis had a dreadful feeling however that this would not be the end.

They had made contact with T-Garden days before but it was decided that the battle would happen soon even if they did not stop on ground. T-Garden would have come to assist them but it would have been pointless to come for the fight would be over by the time they got there.

Trabia insisted on coming anyway however and Selphie was proud –Quistis had not spoken with her about it but she knew her friend well. They said that if G-Garden fell they would assist in cleaning up and assisting those dead with medical help, and if B-Garden fell they claimed they would finish G-Garden off. They had received the coordinates that day of where the battle would take place and they were expected at about the time they anticipated the fight would be over.

The opponent Garden had passed the shore and would halt soon; now that it was close they fully realized what kind of a threat was posed against them. G-Garden was unrecognizable. It looked more like a war machine than ever before. G-Garden halts, Quistis half expects it to laugh derisively at them like Godzilla or a Metal Gear.

They do not look at each other, but Quistis and Xu take their hands from behind their backs and hold hands then. They squeeze tightly through the leather and reassure one another of their strength. Quistis is squeezing harder.

She squeezes her eyes shut and prays despite how unsure she is that she believes. She prays to Hyne and Hyne listens, but Hyne does nothing. And she wishes that Quistis could know that.


	13. The Third Sorceress War

_Disclaimer & A/N: I do not own FF8 or any other Square-enix product but I wouldn't mind having some stock, I don't own Samurai X. I realize that a fast paced song about fighting or war or something would be more fitting for this chapter. But every time I listen to this song I imagine a montage music video of this story. It feels better to me. These () indicate what I thought the lyrics were before I read the pamphlet._

_Someone falls to pieces sleeping all alone, someone kills the pain._

_Spinning in the silence she finally drifts away._

_Someone gets excited in a chapel yard and catches a bouquet._

_Another lays a dozen white roses on a grave._

_And to be yourself is all that you can do._

_To be yourself is all that you can do._

_Someone finds salvation in everyone, another only pain._

_Someone tries to hide himself, down inside (his selfish brain.) himself he prays._

_Someone swears his true love until the end of time and another runs away._

_Separate or united, healthy or insane._

_And to be yourself is all that you can do._

_To be yourself is all that you can do._

_To be yourself is all that you can do._

_To be yourself is all that you can do._

_Even when you've paid enough, been put upon or been held up._

_With every single memory of the good or bad, faces of luck._

_Don't lose any sleep tonight; I'm sure everything will end up alright._

_You may win or lose._

_To be yourself is all that you can do._

_To be yourself is all that you can do._

_And to be yourself is all that you can do._

_To be yourself is all that you can do._

_To be yourself is all that you can do._

_Be Yourself by Audioslave._

**Part Thirteen: The Third Sorceress War**

**The Rules of Combat**

"Great left uterus of Hyne I don't remember it looking like that."

Most SeeD's and cadets around Grave were too appalled by the very thing he was talking about to be offended. One SeeD who he graduated with who he would not have recognized turns her head to give him a deeply offended look. When Grave doesn't even acknowledge her existence she gives up and brigs her attentions to the offending dome ahead of them. Grave remains silent after that and the whole fleet at the opened front gate displays just the kind of silent awe their superiors would scold them for.

Every soldier on B-Garden with sight of G-Garden lacked activity for the longest time. All they could bring themselves to do was stare at the enemy academy and all of its new attachments.

Each member of B-Garden old enough to fight was awoken at dawn. They took cold showers and were dressed and armed within twenty minutes. Then, for many hours, they waited for the time of battle to come. Some received lectures about survival and coping with death afterward but nobody listened. Many students decided to say good-bye ahead of time. Those who made love had two showers.

Grave and Joselyn had three.

When B-Garden moved so did its occupants. They paced and practiced, they sparred and some fought, had real arguments that clearly needed to be settled now else death may settle them too swiftly. Arguments and cries sounded the way they might in a melancholy library. When the Garden halted and turned around they were ordered to relocate themselves to different areas of the Garden for dispatching depending either on the element of their Guardian Force –those with lightning were placed thusly- or by the last three digits of their serial number.

With Maduin Joselyn found herself at the front line of the front gate, Grave had also been located to the front gate simply for his brute power and Joselyn counted herself lucky. Although she was still about twenty feet away from him and they seemed too far away when they could have been facing their deaths.

This was all only inward however. While they were together they spoke arrogantly and assured each other this would not be the last time they showered together. Now that they were separated it was likely they would end up far away during the entire battle. They were still sure they would make it out of this alive but they would have been more comfortable about fighting if they were side by side or back to back.

Now they faced their enemy at the front gate and for the first time during this ordeal they felt that the fight would not be one sided they way they had pretended. They way they might have expected.

Although the Gardens were a great distance apart the enemy still looked much larger than what was possible or fair. Somebody who had not seen G-Garden changed three years ago would now see a vessel transformed. Grave and the remaining heroes however saw something else. They just saw the same transformed Garden with attachments. G-Garden was armed and that was the only real change.

The front –and most likely the back as well- was covered with two chains as red as the Garden it self making an X mark over it. On the sides it had what looked like red fins which could have been anything. They couldn't be for aerodynamics or flight because the rings below the Garden did all of that work already -they must have been another new weapon. If Grave knew Quistis then he was sure she would have them shot down at once just for raising suspicion.

The top features the only attachment that could easily be mistaken as a genuine piece to the structure. It was a black and white plate the shape of a widow's peak. A white line down the middle suggested it would open up. Perhaps it would release weapons or soldiers or both. Galbadia was crazy enough to do both in Graves opinion. He was joking internally really but at the same time he wondered if he was actually right.

Grave realized after some time that nothing was happening. This was becoming a Mexican showdown of unfathomable proportions but for him it was getting to the point where the suspense has died in anticipation for what is suspenseful to finally happen. Grave wonders if he is the only one thinking this way and then he wonders when the first move is going to be made.

Still, nothing happens. Grave is feeling awkward being the only one in his fleet who isn't completely losing it. Even Cody beside him is stiffer than is natural for him. Grave feels that he is suspended above the intensity as though by silk ribbons. He wishes he really was suspended above his comrades now; the people in front of him are blocking his view of Joselyn.

Grave feels he will be fine. And without this tension he swears to himself that he is hearing promises of survival from within him.

The sound of engines running and metal grinding rips through the air and after about a minute of the sound and the confirmation that it is coming form the enemy the widows peak opens slightly in the middle and stops, it opens just enough so the onlookers can know it has opened. It stops with the sound of a drawbridge suggesting that something drops for rest when the mechanism ceases activity.

Every soldier tightens. It's as though a tension spell has been cast across the midsections of every person in the Garden. Everybody again waits in anticipation, except for Grave.

After some time the same thing happens, the widow's peak opens. Grave resists the urge to tap his boots amongst his tense comrades. To amuse himself while he waits he imagines a giant tongue sticking out of the opening to mock B-Garden in its entirety. He laughs, involuntarily, but doesn't attract the attention of anybody nearby, even Cody doesn't ask him what's so funny; his friend who always thinks there is time to laugh and relax is stiff as a statue.

Before Grave expects something to happen they see a red dot in the sky. It gains tremendous speed and soon they see a shape, it is a human, a woman, a small woman. Grave sees a red dress and a familiar head of short black hair and the most innocent eyes you will ever see on a guilty person.

Cornucopia Ostentat floats forth to the opened front gate and descends arrogantly to her tip toes. She lands the way a dancer would on her tip toes but we are sure she never earned the callused toes of a dancer. The powers of a sorceress, combined with the vanity of a princess, equates to infinite grace with zero consequences.

Cornucopia neglects to bow to her opponents when she lands. Cornucopia stands up straight and examines the crowd for the people she wants to see, she intends to see both of them before the conflict begins.

She expects the crowd to part for her at once but they do not, ever an impatient woman she waves her hand to force the middle rows of troops to either side. There is pushing and falling and helping others up but they stay away from their enemy. Cornucopia strolls through her enemies without being stopped.

After passing the first few rows a curved blade appears in an instant in front of her face. The edge threatens to mar her tiny nose. Cornucopia halts, looking straight ahead.

Joselyn appears crazy to every other member of the fleet except for her closest friends and her lover. Joselyn is not facing Cornucopia either, in fact one might say she is posing -Grave and Cody would say definitely, yes, she is posing. They stand with their sides to one another, they seem to be frozen in time.

Grave and Cody are actually proud of her since she is the only one at the front line doing their damn job.

"What are you doing?" Joselyn states simply and hardly, she has adjusted her eyes sideways to look at her enemy through the part in her bang. Cornucopia doesn't look at Joselyn but she doesn't ignore her.

"I came to discuss the rules of combat before we begin," her tone suggested she thought Joselyn should have known that, a nuisance, wasting time. But despite being a nuisance to her Cornucopia looked very amused by Joselyn.

Joselyn's face clenches with hatred and she was inwardly happy that Grave couldn't see her face thusly contorted. Although in the past couple of days he has declared countless times how beautiful she was, she still thought she could look unattractive to him under certain circumstances, and so some part of her was happy to have her back faced to him.

"You're not budging, we'll bring our leader to you." It sounded extremely crazy but this was the rule for this circumstance. The enemy was never to be invited into the leader's quarters but if by some mishap the enemy made their way in to the Garden they were to be stopped in place so that the leader could come to them. It may have been a precautionary measure -or perhaps Graves thinking on this was right.

Graves thinking was that it only made their leader feel they had the upper hand.

Because when you had a sorceress in your Garden it wouldn't matter where she was because she could locate and destroy the office from any distance.

But rules were rules after all and if this made Xu feel more in control then this was the way they would do things. Morale does wonders after all.

"I'll get her," Cody says to Joselyn who nods her already hunched head and she does not take her sword away from Cornucopia's face. Her posture is unchanged; only her head and neck moves and when Cody stands up and leaves she's as still as every soldier was before, though Joselyn is frozen with determination rather than intimidation.

Realizing their superior will be arriving shortly everybody stands up and brushes themselves off and arranges themselves so they are standing in rows once again, though now the group looks very tight since they need to squeeze together in to two separate groups for the pathway between them. Cornucopia does not budge a micron but something about her countenance gives off even more mirth and mockery as she watches her enemy squirm thusly. Joselyn is the same in her malice.

Grave is now on the outside of the collection of SeeDs to Cornucopia's right. He is the only soldier present who is averting his eyes. Joselyn stares at the side of Cornucopia's face. Cornucopia stares at Grave with her unmoving expression of arrogance and satisfaction from a fight that hasn't even started yet. She has a villains Mona Lisa smile and the hooded eyes of a cat sucking on a rodents innards. She must think she looks inviting to him, but she looks nothing like Joselyn. Cornucopia doesn't realize that Joselyn is part of the picture.

Graves eyes stay locked on Joselyn mostly. He imagines her face as he watches the back of her head, and he pretends that she looks away occasionally so he can glance at her butt which is sadly covered by her trench coat. She has of course remembered to roll up the sleeves.

Occasionally he moves his eyes to Cornucopia who responds in no way the eyes can see. She seems to speak to him with feeling. He can imagine -more vividly than his imagination is capable of conjuring on its own- Cornucopia taking a deep breath and blowing something on him to make him feel her messages. She says, 'That's it, look at me.' He can imagine her breathing again and the breath says, 'Be mine, I will take you to a place of no return.'

Grave wonders where he has heard that before, he remembers quickly a time when Quistis was talking to herself about something, talking to herself about somebody.

'A place of no return?' he asks inside his mind and she responds the same way, it is now that Grave realizes this is really happening; Cornucopia is trying to communicate with him privately. She responds the same way but with a much thinner wisp of breath, 'No return,' she promises, 'I will be everything to you.'

Grave tilts his head and smiles malevolently in reality. 'I plan on dying someday Cornucopia, I don't want you.'

Her expression of course is the same, but she is clearly bothered by his genuine lack of interest. 'I will have you Grave, I will make you belong to me today.' She continues to look at him after sending that last message and he feels their connection dissipate just like the messages would after he received them, like mist vanishing.

For the first time since she last spoke physically Cornucopia moves her eyes in the direction of the elevator in response to the ding sound. The doors open and Xu rushes out as quickly and she can without running with Cody trailing behind in the same fashion. Xu barks the order to Joselyn to lower her weapon and Joselyn responds at once. Her weapon is in its scabbard again and she looks ahead with all of her malice intact but with a less contorted look on her face.

The other soldiers around Joselyn had arranged themselves so she was already in line when Xu arrived. She only needed to lower her weapon and put it away. It was unfortunate that she couldn't enjoy in that moment the authority she managed over her comrades without even trying. Grave knew that normally she would be loving this. It was almost depressing to see her determined to be upset just because this particular enemy was near them again.

Xu strides quickly to the front gate and halts ten paces in front of Cornucopia. Cody falls into place across from Grave without needing to hear the order. He stares straight ahead just like everybody except for Grave. Xu takes no notice of this.

"I understand that you want to discuss the rules." Xu isn't bothering to be polite. She thinks that Cornucopia is only here for mockery and she isn't going to hide that. She thinks that Cornucopia has no important rules in mind at all.

Cornucopia's face is still the same but still her countenance changes constantly. Now she is amused by Xu but at the same time she feels she underestimated what the leader would be like.

"That's right." Her mouth appears to move without her face as if the rest of her is a perfect hologram. "I had just one thing in mind. The actual Gardens will not be attacked until every last soldier defending it has been destroyed. That obviously would be to overcome the enemy Garden." Her smile stretches when she finishes and Xu would swear if she did not know better that their enemy was animated like a cartoon.

These weren't rules. This was a threat or a guarantee -or a promise- that she intended to level them completely. Not a single scrap of metal, not one hair on any child's head would be spared. One side would be left with nothing while the other would be ravaged.

Obviously Cornucopia didn't think that her side would be ravaged or left with nothing.

Normally this would be an extremely unreasonable rule but the fact was that both sides intended extermination. In fact it was almost redundant of Cornucopia to show up and say this in the first place. But then if she had not shown up then she would have been privileged her mockery and from her perspective that was simply unacceptable. Showing disrespect to the enemy before destroying them, to her, was just as necessary as showing respect to a loved one once they were dead.

Nobody present knew or would believe that once there had been people important to the sorceress.

In this case it was perfectly reasonable but even if it weren't Xu would have no choice but to accept and so she did it automatically. "Very well, our soldiers will fight your soldiers and the winner dismantles the enemy base, agreed?" it was redundant to add the 'agreed' but she was supposed to say it anyway.

"Agreed," said Cornucopia, speaking in the same inhuman fashion and she watched Xu with the same unchanging, anti-humanity in her big innocent eyes.

Cornucopia curtsies with no amount of real respect and she ascends several feet in the air, flies backwards still facing her enemy and this time she reaches the inside of her base much faster. The widow's peak closes again and another sound is heard from the enemy Garden at once suggesting preparation for battle. It is the sound of metal settling before launch.

"The first fleet will prepare for operation 'Onslaught of Lightning' upon landing is that understood," Xu bellows loudly and she has her answer at once.

"Yes ma'am!" Every SeeD and Cadet present shouts. Xu turns on her heel and returns to her temporary post. After the first few fleets leave she will join her soldiers on the battlefield.

The Gardens descend simultaneously and as they descend numerous PesticidE's are dispersed between each fleet. Savior is among the first fleet and a few sighs of relief are actually heard.

The Garden's land and the ramps for the first fleets open and unfold from the front gates as stairs studded with bolts and shining in the afternoon sun. The ramps touch ground ripping grass and penetrating the dirt. The clang of steel as the stairs unfold hit the SeeDs hearts because with each step opened for them they are that much closer to one of the biggest battles the planet has seen so far.

The SeeDs puff out their chests and perform their mandatory breathing exercises. Many of the SeeDs dare to hope that their enemy is as frightened as they are. They wonder if their enemy would dare show it if they would. The SeeDs knew they would not show their own.

Soldiers on one side take the seconds they have left to think of their loved ones.

There is silence between the Gardens; all other forms of sentient life are not present.

**The First Waves**

Joselyn felt furious even long after Cornucopia's departure. She knew the real reason she had shown up was to try and convince Grave to come to her side. And despite the fact that she didn't actually speak to Grave, she was sure that behind her back Cornucopia had employed some other means of communication. Nobody but the sorceress herself knows the full power of said sorceress, after all.

Joselyn has full confidence in Grave's faithfulness so she is sure that Grave would never leave her for anybody else. But the factor that Cornucopia was a sorceress had to be taken into consideration strongly. It was true that Grave was unwaveringly faithful but Love is not necessarily going to counteract a spell for manipulation of possession… or seduction

Her face softens but her lips become a tight smirk. She wondered if she was ever going to tell him. She told herself she would someday. But not today, that would be too soon, even if they survived the great battle.

_When we survive_, Joselyn thinks to herself loudly. She closes her eyes tight and mouths the words, _when we survive._

"Your face seems to change as quickly as a turning page," Joselyn jumps and looks around in all directions before she stops at the person next to her. _Hyne, I shouldn't be panicked right now, especially from an ally_, she thought.

Joselyn composes herself as quickly as a Galbadian war machine repairs itself from internal damage. Joselyn looks down to Terra with completely relieved composure, pretending she was not alarmed a moment ago. But even if she cared about hiding it, Terra would be the most impossible to hide your feelings from.

"You don't say." Joselyn is lacking an adequate reply for what Terra said because she isn't entirely sure what Terra meant by it. Joselyn has always thought, 'You don't say,' is a rather good default reply. She only likes to use it at a time like this when she finds herself absolutely puzzled.

Terra gives her a very kind look, Joselyn would have thought to see childlikeness in this from her angle, the way Terra was craning her neck to look up to her, but something definitively mature about Terra counteracts it and she only looks quizzical. Yet her look is a knowing one…

"Oh yes," Terra says enthusiastically as if they were on a subject she had written a thesis for. "I could see you shift from hate to love to concern as I approached the fleet," Terra spoke very matter-of-fact and Joselyn was further puzzled. _What the fuck do I say to that?_

_Perhaps it's a half Esper thing,_ thought Joselyn, Terra nodded to her in confirmation without being posed any question.

"Well…" Joselyn began rather uncomfortably, but something about Terra was comforting to her -in a way she didn't want to give any thought. "The hate was the sorceress obviously, she groped Grave once so I can't help but hate her." Terra nodded sympathetically. "The love is self explanatory I think." Joselyn didn't feel entirely comfortable saying this around strangers and Terra when this distant to Grave but she doubted that anybody else was listening for fear of the battle.

"It is," Terra confirmed for her to finish.

"And the concern is just for the battle, I guess I have a lot to think about is all," she sighed suggesting she was finished and so was the conversation, but Joselyn was familiar with Terra's normal policy to get the last lick in her conversations.

"My father will make fine protection for you," she said with a substantial amount of pride.

"I'm less concerned about myself to tell the truth," Joselyn says a bit tiredly, _perhaps this is a stage of panic to go through before battle, _she thought. Terra nodded in confirmation again but this time Joselyn wasn't looking.

"My father can protect your allies too if you ask him to, although your lover seems to be the type who can take care of himself. Despite the evil thing he harbors of course." Joselyn wasn't sure if Terra was trying to suggest that Grave himself was evil or not. Perhaps on some level he was.

Terra wonders voyeuristically why Joselyn is considering her lover evil now, but more than that she wonders why Joselyn doesn't seem bothered by the concept of her partner being evil. She only seemed concerned about others thinking of him thusly. _Humans are indeed strange creatures, _she thought decisively, and she left the thought alone after that.

The battle horns had not yet sounded. It had been quite a while so Joselyn decided if she were going to ask Terra anything at all it should probably be before the battle began. "Do _you_ think he's evil?"

Terra thought it was especially interesting of Joselyn to ask her this. She had the lilt in her voice suggesting she was not going to take her opinion into consideration, thinking her own opinion absolute. Terra thought Joselyn was only trying to confirm if she stood next to a moral enemy or not.

"I believe that all sentient things have evil in them," she said simply, and she knew what question would come next for she had answered similar questions this same way two hundred and sixty eight times before now. Terra actually counts for this one; five, four…

"How evil do you think he is in comparison to others then?" Wow, Joselyn only made it to four, that's a new record!

"Evil is not something I measure," she said with enough practice to convince Joselyn that this was the first time anybody had asked her this manner of thing. She felt the change in the young woman's heart she had expected and didn't need to look at her to see the satisfied smile.

"I can respect that." Said Joselyn, having the content she'd wanted from Terra.

Joselyn felt rather uplifted after speaking with Terra and even just by standing beside her. She couldn't explain it and some part of her would have been embarrassed to do that. And in that moment before another page could be turned on her face the horns sounded and the enemy's first wave rushed down their stairway. The SeeD's and PesticidE's rushed down there's with Terra seemingly gliding ahead of them.

It wasn't until they were running that Joselyn realized Terra was leading their battalion. And it was too late to give it any thought. Her hand went to her weapons hilt.

_**EG**_

Quistis ignores the enemy fleet and SeeD fleet rushing to each other to do battle. Quistis is rather sure that melee isn't going to be the beginning of the fight. Her eyes are instead fixed on the enemy Garden looking, as of yet, impartial. She is convinced that is deceptive. The new ornaments are too suspicious to her, and she is all too familiar with Galbadian tactics so she knows they will not hesitate to bring out the big guns.

She stands in the cockpit with Rinoa and Selphie who came up just after Xu left to deal with the sorceress. They watch the same target with stances completely different but faces identical. They were the three female heroes of the universe standing together without their men.

If Zell were present he might have named them Estrogen Battalion Number One. Quistis wanted to chuckle outwardly to that thought but something put out the fire in her that understood humor. Upcoming expectations of death did that to a person and no matter how hard she could make herself it would always do that to her.

The elevator descends and elevates bringing Xu back to them and the femme quartet is united. She takes the remaining space behind the pilot and watches with the same face and a stance of her own, she has strapped eight long knives around her waist for when her time in battle approaches. Contrary to popular opinion about leaders, it would.

Nobody watches the foot soldiers; they are as of yet unimportant and neither side has reached the center of the battlefield and they won't for a few minutes yet. Their attention is still on the enemy Garden. But their enemy stays still; perhaps Cornucopia watches them the same way from her vantage point, except she surely wouldn't expect to see anything coming from their Garden other than the primary troops.

It wasn't until both sides had reached their respective halfway points to the center of the battle field that something out of the ordinary happened, not until the thing they were watching out for actually happened. The enemy fleet stopped. Each soldier halted in unison as if the same brain commanded them. Rinoa was convinced now that this was what was happening with their enemy.

The Balamb Garden troops stopped as well but much more messily. Each of their soldiers had their own brains after all. There was very much faltering a certain amount of pushing on their side. Eventually though, everybody managed to make it to their feet. The commanding officers were alerted originally to expect something strange and to not worry too much about it. Xu knew when she gave that order that she was asking for too much but she would be satisfied even if they just tried.

Instantly the fins split in to V shapes and the great sharp sound and abruptness of the motion makes the quartet and their pilot jump. None are embarrassed since there are no others around to see them jump. The fins snap to the shape of a reverse V which pushes them off of the Garden and makes everybody jump again. Quistis and Rinoa force themselves in to adequate composure quickly however and will act quickly.

It was a spur of the moment plan in all honesty. Once they saw the new adornments on the enemy vessel they knew they would have to prepare for the unexpected. They had no idea of being prepared to interrupt that battle by being away from it initially would make any difference than if they had gone out there to begin with. Xu had a feeling before however and the other three women would trust Xu with their lives.

Quistis and Rinoa watch with more surprise than is healthy as the things that once looked like fins flap red wings like giant cybernetic cave bats. They note with a bit of amusement that the bodies of the aerial vessels actually are purple.

"Open it," Quistis commands the pilot as she follows with her eyes the aerial vessel that is on her side of the battlefield. The pilot flips a switch quickly and the top of the cockpit opens up as quickly as the fins had become wings, a gust of wind rushes in to the cockpit and makes Rinoa's lab coat flap upwards once. Rinoa clicks the safety off of her blaster edge and Quistis unhooks her whip from her belt.

The enemy vessels do not look like the sort of thing that Galbadia would build even as a joke. They would normally go for something like a jet if they need a small flying vessel. To have something like a giant built out of machinery requires whimsy only an omnipotent psychopath is capable of. Cornucopia must have had them built for either a personal interest in bats or for the sake of scaring the enemy. A giant machine moving like an animal is rather intimidating if only because it is not automatic for humans to comprehend.

Quistis and Rinoa watch their designated targets flap frantically with the most erratic flight pattern. At one point the enemy vessels cross and as their targets switch sides of the battle field so do the women switch their targets. It is basic planning for when you have SeeDs targeting designated areas instead of enemies; it is so basic they didn't even need to discuss it before they came up. In fact, when Selphie and Rinoa came to the cockpit a few minutes ago not a single word was uttered.

The flying machines cross paths again and so the two women switch back to their original targets. They're not close enough yet… not yet… not yet…

Quistis manages her temper but Rinoa is becoming aggravated that their targets are staying in the middle of the battlefield. Both of them are glad the things have not attacked but that could change at any moment. They don't have any visible weapons which could mean they are bombs. Erratic flying bombs with no definite direction or destination…

…Cornucopia Ostentat is decidedly a sick individual…

The bat machines fly lower, and just as they were ordered to the SeeDs and PesticidE's stand in place, they stand as bait not meant to be nipped at once. The enemy has flown low but has not landed or attacked, they are not retreating.

Not yet…

Not yet…

Not yet…

"Now!" Quistis barks and in unison she and Rinoa crouch down, Xu casts haste on Quistis and Selphie does the same for Rinoa. The pair leaps out of the cockpit, flips forward over the glass mouth of the exit and land on the smooth surface of B-Garden running.

Their boots sound of rubber mallets striking glass it as they stride down B-Garden's hull. They form a V shape as they part ways in between the parts that may be considered the eyes of their own vessel. And with legs and buttocks powered by the energy of their Espers, they crouch again and leap from B-Garden and in the general direction of their enemy. The wisdom of jumping from the points they have chosen will be decided now.

Each woman casts float on herself before she needs to act physically and they soar through the air without faltering or fearing a crash because they now know that is impossible. Neither woman is worried that she will miss either.

Rinoa dives watching her target fly frantically, one might expect for her wings to sprout and carry her further across the battle field. It seems much larger than expected now that she is closer but it is no more threatening. It swoops right, it swoops left the same way, and it swoops away and high above Rinoa and finally threatens the first fleet by diving low to the ground. It is directly in front of Rinoa now but it does not face her; it faces the SeeDs who stand still as they have been ordered to do.

Rinoa takes aim with her angelic weapon held vertically and fires. It spins as a white blur and flies straight and when it strikes the enemy perfectly she feels great satisfaction blossom in her belly. Rinoa resists the urge to say 'Booya' because of Zell's absence despite the fact that she really wants to say it, and the despite the other fact that nobody could hear her say it one hundred feet in the air.

The wheel bites into the base of the right wing and tears deeply through it like a rogue circular saw. It cuts all the way to the end then it rolls downward and cuts the lower half of the wings base; once it reaches the spot it first struck it snaps from the great machine and flies back to Rinoa just as a familiar would. It clicks into place loudly enough that she can hear it past the wind rushing by her ears.

The right wing of the great machine bat falls away from the main body and both parts hit the ground quickly. There is no dramatic explosion the moment it hits the ground but no SeeD, no matter how young, is stupid enough to hope there will be no explosion at all.

At the same time as Rinoa fired the aerial saw Quistis watches her target right, left, and back. Quistis notes that the flight patterns of the vessels are similar or identical, they seemed to fly erratically but it may have simply been a random flight pattern. It seems strange though, that the Galbadians might go through the trouble of making such an elaborate pattern and then simply copy it. Someone must've been lazy.

All of the sudden, Quistis felt more confident as a teacher.

As the bat swoops down to her side of the battlefield Quistis swings her whip two handed over her head, it unravels and ripples like the snake that leaps from tree branches. She waits and worries that she will not be close enough at the right moment, and this point Rinoas weapon is still traveling to its own target.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

… Wait for it…

The moment of hit or miss approaches and Quistis swings her whip down, just before the whip finishes swinging Quistis remembers three years ago when she watched Squall cut the pipe to rescue Rinoa for non-animation. She is swinging much the same way and the sentimental part of her wants to think that this will help her hit her target. She imagines her three missing brothers gagging at the notion.

Her whip slaps against the base of the left wing and she can picture Irvine doing his shooting gesture as a mark of success. The elastic weapon wraps around the wing tight Thusly secured Quistis spins, twisting her whip to release its thorns. The thorns pop out on command and dig deep into the red metal like glass splinters puncturing a human foot.

Supported in the air by her enemy Quistis swings underneath it by its wing just as she once did on the ropes during gym class. As she is swinging below it with the wind rushing passed her ears at a different angle than when she fell she comes very close to the ground and the high heels of her boots graze so quickly against the grass that the tips of the blades of grass break apart.

Quistis reaches the end of the swing three feet above the ground. In that moment the bat seems to have halted in mid-air, Quistis is suspended by her whip, she can swing no further, on the verge of swinging backwards. With all of the magic and muscle in her torso and arms Quistis swings downward the same way she did before the swing and the whip tears through the wing, tearing it off. Bits of machinery and powerfully smelling fluids scatter at her back but none touch her.

The great machine crashes about the same time Rinoa's target does. They can hear breaking, and internal damage happening from the inside of the machines. Quistis cracks her whip behind her then in front of her again.

It's not often posing is appropriate in war but when you take down a heavy aerial vessel with a whip you're entitled to look cool. Zell often said he wished he were in charge of Garden so he could make posing mandatory after a large accomplishment as such. Quistis always wondered if her foster brother was really joking about that.

_Probably not._

After the broken machines cracked, pieces settle, a clicking sound is heard. It sounds like metal striking metal and it happens evenly every two seconds.

Clink.

The sound does not change even after four beats. The sound is so clear it seems to be in the open as if it does not have its barriers.

Clink.

Quistis turns around and faces the wreckage. Clink. Quistis raises her arm and fans her fingers in front of her in a commanding fashion. Clink. "Protect," she says in unison with Rinoa from across their respective wrecks. The clinking sound happens again in time with the Protect spell, the blue lights spread out, turn three hundred and sixty degrees, they grow out further and turn again, and once more to cover Quistis and Rinoa's whole body's.

Clink. Although it is the same as each one before it they pretend finality. And they pretend finality because they faintly hear the rip of internal material from the flames about to come forth. It's that moment of rumbling just before the blast that those without enhanced senses cannot hear.

The wrecked vessels explode at the same time and the shrapnel is what comes first, in that instant before the flames erupt like a grand blossoming. The shreds of metal flash out instantly and bounce off of the protect shields floating in front of each soldier within the blast radius.

The fire comes now. Instantly. To the human perception it is only a cloud of fire suddenly appearing amidst a shattering sound and settling upward and vanishing in to the black smoke. But what it really looks like is round orbs of light blazing each in their own direction, and as the fire grows larger that is more orbs coming from between the others. And they break apart and rise in to the smoke once there are no orbs that can go any further.

The fire completely engulfs Quistis, Rinoa and every member of the first fleet. They had expected something like this to happen at least once during the battle –and now that it has happened so soon, at the very beginning they can assume that it will probably happen again- so they chose to accept it and prepare accordingly.

The fire engulfs and rushes around every member of the fleet, no amount of destruction reaches the actual Garden. The fire stops and catches on every person and every garment they wear but something different happens than is normal. Instead of catching further and blazing away the cloth and flesh of our army the fire is _absorbed_ by them. The fire enters their bodies like dough into the pasta machine and the sparks jump away from their bodies, vanish to nothing. Every last tongue of light goes into our army, there is no smoke.

The hundreds of shards that attack the first fleet bounce in all direction and bounce back between the shields many times. It happens as orderly as a choreographed dance. When they run out of momentum they bounce more softly until the Protect energy doesn't deem them threatening anymore and they land on the SeeDs shoulders and heads and lay their as innocently as snow. Our soldiers shake the shrapnel from their bodies.

It all happens so fast that Quistis has not even lowered her arm yet. She drops her arm the moment after she cast the protect spell and turns around to watch their enemy. They are still stationary. They were prepared for the first fleet to be taken out by the aerial attackers.

And it wouldn't have been a surprise if at least one of them was actually meant to strike B-Garden. They had rather expected that Miss Ostentat would not want to play by her own rules.

They want to think their enemies are gaping and impressed, and hopefully frightened, but they cannot see their enemy's expressions. What they can see is their enemies are still. From this distance they are not even sure if they are breathing, or twitching, or twiddling their thumbs or doing anything that would suggest human irritability.

Quistis especially believes they are opposed to knights in uniform.

Quistis hears the sound of manifestation like the singing of a singular note ascending to another note from a Major scale. A sound that is reverberating strongly, Quistis knows it is a water spell before she looks. But for a moment she feels panic thinking their enemy is casting spells from a distance instead of sending her army forward like she proposed they did.

Rinoa is casting the spell –a very large one- above the wreckage that she is responsible for. The water develops into an orb and as it grows it creates that musical sound, when it finishes with a quick ripple throughout the body of element manifested the sound is final like striking an even higher note in Major. The orb of water splashes all over the wreckage to put out the fire, it sizzles as loudly as the wings had flapped and there is an abundance of steam that might make up for the lack of smoke from the explosions.

Quistis notes the enemy is still doing nothing but she anticipates they will either rush soon or wait longer so their machines or their master can attack before them –or in place of them, Quistis wonders if they will fight at all. She casts the same spell behind her with a wave of her hand behind her head and arrogantly does not check to see if she missed a spot.

Everybody looks to the red chains expectantly and worries on their individual insides that this surprise is what is in store next. But as they look up to the enemy Garden they hear the sound of foot steps in the distance, and soon they can tell the enemies first fleet is rushing to them once again. Hopefully their next surprise will be delayed. Quistis wonders if they will manage the next surprise as well as they did the flying enemies with the drop of morale they would not doubt endure.

The opposite army is running forward again and is showing no signs of stopping –although they didn't show signs of stopping earlier either. Quistis cracks her whip behind her and extends her arm to the enemy army and points to them.

"Attack!" She yells and the first wave begins running as soon as she does.

From a birds eye view you would see the other soldiers from both sides spilling out of their front gates. The SeeD's run around the wrecks like water around the stone in a river. They move at the same pace as their enemy despite this.

Individuality is clear on the side of the SeeD army. Our soldiers wear different outfits and uniforms; they wield different weapons, their stances will differ when they fight, some of them have not even armed themselves yet. The way they charge is different even, no two SeeD or cadet move quite the same way. Each one is somehow different from the person behind, in front of or next to them, although they do fall into step with one another.

Their enemy is an army like machines in the skins and uniforms of humans. Men and women are dressed the same in Galbadian Private Uniforms. They run like racers with their swords drawn and they are just far enough away from one another that they don't accidentally harm their comrades. They are hunched over so their shoulder pads look like second and third heads on either side of their helmets. They move in perfect unison as if there were only one Galbadian Soldier and the rest were just real time holograms of him.

When the SeeD's are close enough to see this they are not frightened, the contrary in fact. Most SeeD's are thinking that if one of them can handle one Galbadian soldier than dealing with another army of identical ones will be no task. Certain gifted students -Cody, Grave and Joselyn among them- are wondering if this part of the battle is meant only to give them confidence before the real threat is unleashed, something worse than the flying bombs, something to crush a boost of confidence.

Quistis believes there is another greater threat, and although she hasn't actually confirmed what it is yet she _knows_ there is another greater threat.

If you would return to the sky to look down on the battle you would again be reminded of water. We are imagining two trails of water; the droplets leading the trail are no higher than the trail behind them and must be reaching the end. They come so close so quickly, it is just that moment when we would expect them to meet instantly.

But before that happens our droplet of SeeD's vanishes, and in there place the front line of their enemies are opposed to sparks and bolts of lightening.

As the SeeD's rushed to their enemies the front line prepared for summoning the Lightning Espers, Joselyn is close enough to Maduin now that he replaces her in battle after only two seconds. The enemy didn't seem to register their enemies were posing to summon as they ran, and now that the Espers are manifest before them they do not look alarmed to see them.

The summoning from the first fleet is so grand that even the whole second fleet behind them is vanished for protection, this time it is the remaining SeeD army that stops abruptly for they are not protected against the summoning being outside of the vanishing radius. They stop to watch for the time being for they will not be needed until the Espers in front of them have wreaked their havoc.

Terra however does not vanish with the humans.

The first and second fleet all summon at once vanishing like soaked up rice paper. Above that area the clouds swirl and darken as if the sky were a blender and dark ashes were poured into the spinning cream. Sparks explode from the ground like bullets of light and thunder quakes the air. One lightening bolt for each Esper summoned spears in to the ground and the shockwave knocks the enemies font line on their asses -or faces, whichever.

Strips of electricity the size and length of baby snakes crawl up the bodies of every soldier within the radius of initial impact. They are burned internally and certain soldiers who are simply weaker than others are cooked to death internally before the Espers even manifest.

These bright slithers crawl up Terra's body as well but she does not move or make a sound. To her the electricity feels as soothing as rivulets of water would and if she had any wounds this energy would seal them to perfect health for her. The energy burrows inside of her and becomes part of her.

The wind has picked up because of the summoning, her robes and great locks of hair flail wildly around her, the strips lightning latches onto her hair as they lash in the wind, then squirm into her like sperm fighting over the egg.

Quetzalcoatl, Ramuh, and many other incarnations of lightening are collected as a replacement fleet. At the front of the line is Maduin in all his furry splendor, lightning the size of the wires that run the Gardens are wrapped around him, they burrow in his fur and manifest again around his body continuously. He chooses to stand on the ground unlike his companions so he is that much closer to his daughter.

Terra palms her fathers hand for a moment of his attention; it is only for this moment however, the summoned time is limited. But they still feel this is important, this is the first time in hundreds of years they have been this near each other, much less in physical contact.

Terra takes her hand away the second after she touched her father's hand. Neither one of them has needed to look behind them to know their fellow incarnations bow respectively for that second.

In that moment they are still not fighting one daring survivor from the first Galbadian fleet dashes to Quetzalcoatl and swings his sword down the middle of his tail. The soldier slides for a moment under Quetzalcoatl, he jerks to turn around. Quetzalcoatl is unharmed.

No Esper acknowledges the foolish soldier. They stand or float still watching the enemy army in front of them. The lightening bullets that fired from the ground earlier explode the ground beneath the soldier and he is shocked to a partially cooked but mostly burned body. Now even his comrades are not aware that he exists now or did even a minute ago.

Cornucopia Ostentat is thinking along the same lines.

A lightening bolt for each Esper manifests from sparks around each collective entity as a circle and it spins around them all; it spins faster and faster, gathering a circular barrier of energy around them.

The collection of demi gods –Terra included- rise in to the air a hundred feet in an instant, their bodies do not move or gesture behind the energy barrier, not even a wing is flapped. They move over the surviving members of the first enemy fleet, looking not unlike an UFO.

As quickly as any bolt of lightning the barrier around the Espers falls to the ground as a grand net. Once the end strikes the ground it stays suspended instead of dissipating into sparks and loose energy.

The knights don't have time to register their disintegration, no time to escape. The Espers holding the net of lightning dive forward covering the enemy completely –Cornucopia had not the wit to disperse her soldiers as they left their own Garden. The remains of the first fleet as well as the second fleet are covered and most of the third fleet manages to escape.

As the net is lain upon each soldier the knot of energy nearest them undoes itself like a living noose expanding itself to obtain its prey. The lightening squeezes each soldier as if it were as solid as rope.

Once the Espers reach ground level, once their net has captured every enemy soldier that it is capable of harnessing, and once every one of those soldier's bodies is fried so their spirits find their shells unfit, the Espers let go of the net and it dissipates. The Espers fly into the air again like a flock of birds. The net falls apart and the energy hits the ground like a thousand marbles before it becomes sparks. They dance for a few seconds over the dead Galbadian soldiers then vanish quickly. Now is the time for battle, the dancing will happen after victory regardless of which side ultimately wins.

The Espers fly backwards now at the maximum height they maintained when they held the net before. It happens so fast the knights cannot follow the Espers with their eyes. All they see is light and destruction not yet touching them. The Espers descend then to the same spot they were summoned in perfect formation like ducks.

Before they vanish Maduin touches a paw like hand on his daughters shoulder. Her shoulder is completely consumed by her father's hand. This time she looks up to him and she sees his own version of a smile. Only she and the other who grew up with her father would be able to notice. Any human would look at his face and guess it was madness, and a disturbingly intimate level of interest coupled with that madness. But no pure blood human has the eyes of an Esper.

Maduin does not stop holding his daughters shoulder as he fades out of the solid realm and back in to the brain of Joselyn Abgestossen. As he fades the strong feeling of his hand does not. Terra can still feel his bristly fur penetrating the cloth and tickling her skin.

The effect of rice paper vanishing into water happens in reverse now but much faster than when they disappeared. In one second Joselyn Abgestossen stands beside her. Her father's presence is still just as strong inside the young woman. Terra takes this moment before further fighting to look at the tall girl. Her face is written with determination now but that page will not be turned until the fight is over. Joselyn doesn't seem to notice that Terra's eyes are on her.

If the electricity had been normal and not the destructive energy of Espers it would linger where they had been summoned and where the net had been laid. Instead we feel an absence where we believe there should be a wake of destruction. We do not even feel or imagine air where the Espers and the destruction they wrought was a moment ago; all we feel and all we can imagine is invisible void.

"Charge!" Quistis screams as she fades back in to tangible existence. As she returns to the material plain she begins screaming her command to her troops and the volume of her voice elevates as she re-manifests until she has finished coming back and her voice is louder than we can imagine is natural. Her throat is as an amplifier.

Every SeeD, every cadet Terra included rushes forward to Quistis's call, her loud voice somehow lacks horse-ness despite being so loud -yet her voice resonates inside their skulls as if it were torn and raw.

The survivors and the rest of the enemy army pick themselves up and rush forward as if following an identical command but no member of our army can hear any such command.

Actually, truth be told, there are two exceptions. But they are doing their best to ignore the enemy's voice. None of their allies will notice that they are trying to hide something during the heat of the upcoming battle.

In seconds both sides meet and from the birds eye view we would be able to see the effect of water droplets touching instantly just as we expected before. Both sides meet that way and at first the SeeDs have an upper hand on account of the beginnings of their enemies being crippled. But they will be evenly matched very soon.

**The Pay Off of Training**

Before they crash into the beginning of the real fight, Cody strikes Grave harmlessly in the arm. He snaps his head to look at his friend and he continues to move with his comrades without even brushing against one of them. Cody's eyes are wide with warning and so is his mouth once it opens.

"The blood's gonna spill soon man, put them in!" Grave is surprised that he forgot but his face is stern and ready to spill hate all over his prey. Grave lets one crowbar hang by his wrist and gives Cody the 'Okay' gesture.

Earlier, Cody Joselyn and Grave discussed the situation with his demon and decided that it would be best if he did not transform during the fight. From beginning to end Grave was the one least comfortable with his changing but in the end it was Cody who suggested he go through the trouble to suppress it. Grave agreed and Joselyn exhaled a deeply in relief when he did.

Grave reaches in his jacket pocket and produces two small cylinders of soft plastic. He pops each one in his nostrils with his thumb. He takes hold of his weapon again and assumes his running stance again. The plastic is secure in his nostrils. He tries to take a breath through them but his lungs feel like there is a stopper on them. Grave can no longer smell the sweat on his comrades or the broken blades of grass they crush beneath their boots. Grave cannot smell the cloud of sweet mint that clings to him after making love with Joselyn earlier.

He is disappointed about being deprived of that last scent but really it's good that he won't smell her either since he does not want to be delirious or aroused when he should be alert.

What really matters however is that he does not smell or consume any amount of blood. And there will be much, much blood.

Grave worries for a moment if there is any other way to rouse the demon with blood. He will surely be covered with the stuff minutes into the battle. Grave imagines just before they reach the beginning of their fight the blood of his enemies all over him, and his pores sucking the blood into his body for the demon to lick. No, that won't happen, his actual body would not betray him that way. The demon has so far showed no sign of actual control over him… any that he had noticed anyway.

The SeeDs and cadets who were on the outskirts of their column have met the enemy and the fight has really begun. Grave swerves between his allies who move slowly to their fight on purpose. He does not judge them as cowards despite the fact that he doesn't know what it's like to not look forward to killing.

No matter how much love he will receive, and no matter how much he may lose in his life, Grave will never develop that quality of humanity. If there is any part of him that is really dead then that is it. Contrary to what his friends hope it is not just the demon in Grave that makes him love the sights and sounds of another body torn apart. Contrary to the humanity he shows Joselyn when they share secrets and body parts.

Grave has no gag reflex.

Grave has nearly reached the first wall of enemies; the soldiers on the front lines are already abusing the advantage they have been granted by the Lightning Guardian Forces. Grave has decided to leave these crippled targets to the cadets and lesser SeeDs –and by lesser SeeDs he means the ones who would sooner fight a crippled target, he does not judge these SeeDs harshly either- for the healthier prey from their enemies third fleet.

Grave slips by his allies and into purely enemy territory. He spots an appropriate target at once, Grave is crouching low and dragging his crowbars along the grass, the soldier he has spotted spots him and runs to him crouching low with his sword in front of him.

Grave will aim high.

Once he is not three feet from his prey Grave leaps forward head and weapons first like a wild cat pouncing. The Galbadian soldier prepares to swing his sword upward to carve open Graves belly, then he drops his sword on the broken grass. Grave swings his weapons downward and the four black spikes dig in to the back of the soldiers head.

Grave's body flips over the Galbadian and the spikes dig deeper in to his brain as Grave's motion happens. Grave's feet land hard on the shoulders of another Galbadian and with a spine like rubber he stands up straight on the second soldier and in the process her rips off the head of the first soldier. Grave brings his weapons in front of him and swiftly he pulls them apart and sends both halves of the first soldier's torn head in opposite directions among his still living comrades.

Before the Soldier he is standing on can try to saw off his knees at the shin Grave puts one foot on top of the soldiers head and pushes the mans cheek so hard into his shoulder that his neck snaps. Grave allows the soldier to fall over instead of jumping off of him and he walks off of the body and he breaks into another run amongst his enemies.

He thought of them all as sheep, all of them, sheep not meant to be eaten but to instead be sent back into the planets soil.

Grave is relieved that he does not smell the blood on his weapons, or on his clothes, he is relieved that the blood that splattered on his face when he tore that mans head in half isn't seeping into his skin.

_**EG**_

Joselyn has forgotten that she was standing beside Terra. She will never know that Terra was not resisting the urge to admire her ass -albeit guiltily. Her mind is set so that she wouldn't care if it were Grave doing that. Right now Joselyn's only concerns are to kill and to survive. And faster than any other member of the front line she enters the fray.

Joselyn is a blur of three colors, her hair and most of her blue trench coat flap behind her wildly but not widely. She moves as a blur and her enemy's wonder if she is not a soldier but a new spell.

After she inspected Palidor for the first time she discovered the attribute he enhanced was how fast her body could move. He was capable of making her move far more than was natural even for other Guardian Forces.

Joselyn is now capable of moving almost as quickly as a Whelp.

Unfortunately her mind can't quite process moving at that speed so she needs to stop every six feet or so or else she is unable to see a damn thing, she also needs to do this in order to move in another direction otherwise she will fall and roll at a possibly fatal angle. Joselyn has been very careful training this new ability however, so she is not concerned about tripping herself death. But it is still new to her, so despite her sureness, she is being careful.

The SeeDs who were beside Joselyn strike at the weapons of the enemy soldiers nearest them but instead of holding their guards their weapons drop from their flaccid fingers. The stomachs of the three soldiers open and out spills so much pink fluid and organs, it comes out like bubbling saliva does from the puckered lips of a young boy trying to gross out the girl next door.

Joselyn is several feet beyond the three enemies in a stance that has finished swinging. There isn't any of the soldier's blood on her blade. Her arms and sword instantly move in to another position, and just as quickly Joselyn is replaced by kicked up tips of grass. Her hair and trench coat do not have the time to fall back against her body.

Three more Galbadian soldiers who paid no attention to their own back sides feel something cold and wet pass through their waists. They feel no sensation at once, at first they only feel a sensation of being emptied –and somehow, sickness at the same time- and they register the pain just before they look down to see their bodies from the waist down fall backwards while their torso's fall forwards. They are dead before they feel the comfortable warmth of their own gore.

Joselyn vanishes again and stops in the middle of five Galbadian soldiers and like the previous three these men are not paying attention to the area behind them. Joselyn swings her weapon in five motions so fluid they look like one. Behind her blade is a trail of blood as long as the blade, it looks like she is waving a red flag for a betting race. Each man is now connected by one another's blood like they have red cloth sewn within their bodies.

Joselyn makes a movement like unsheathing her sword from the blood around it then she ducks under it and strides to another area. The blood falls to the ground in the same pattern that it was drawn and the men fall apart looking so much more disorganized than their collective gore.

Joselyn spots an area of fallen enemy soldiers whom judging by their wounds had faced Grave earlier. Joselyn dashed forward and found her self amidst the bodies instantly. She felt she needed a breather. She knew that trying to get one of those in the middle of a fight was probably unwise but moving so quickly is tiresome, definitely the price for such efficiency.

Joselyn grits her teeth and jumps slightly when she feels the pain in her forearm, the pain is sudden and strong. Joselyn looks to the source and sees a cut horizontal to her forearm leaking blood down to her hand, the top of the injury which faces her elbow joint is flat.

Joselyn decides that she needs to be more careful when dashing between her enemies. She must have run in to one of their weapons before it had fallen, or another soldier had his weapon held in her way when she moved. In any event she decided that she was not examining her paths well enough before she took them. She realizes that she may have to watch out for obstacles other than sharp swords.

Joselyn palms her wound and casts cure on her wound. The pain of restoration is minimal since it was a clean efficient cut -really it's no more painful that being bitten on her tongue by hot salsa. Joselyn pulls a white rag from the pocket inside her coat and wipes her arm till there is only dry residue left. She stuffs the rag inside her coat again.

She grips her weapon again and watches the battle around her; she rotates her body at a normal speed and judges where her next path should be. She notices a path of bodies leading from the circle where she is standing and on the other end of it she sees Grave and Cody creating another circle like the one she is standing in. Occasionally a bright light touches Cody's wounds, sealing them. Bridget, no doubt, is watching them from a safe spot amongst their allies.

All around her Joselyn hears foot steps striking the ground but to her right she hears that striking sound louder. She continues to rotate and through a split in her bang she sees one soldier charging to her, the hand that does not hold his weapon has fallen to the ground behind him and the stump is bleeding freely. If she were farther away Joselyn would just let him fall over from loss of blood but he is close enough to be a threat.

Joselyn dashes several feet to her enemy's right and she stops long enough to see his face register her disappearance. She dashes again and as she stops she swings her weapon through the back of his neck. With his spinal cord severed he falls forward looking like he simply tripped and broke his neck. Joselyn vanishes from behind him so quickly that anybody watching would think just that had happened.

_**EG**_

In the center of Galbadia Garden basement, the sounds of battle outside cannot be heard. Those who are inside are not conscious that there is a battle outside in fact. Even the puppeteer has temporarily forgotten she has begun a war. She does not think her presence on the battlefield is necessary yet so she has chosen to hide away in private luxury until she is needed.

The basement of the Garden was transformed by way of an omnipotent beings magic. Truth-be-told the vessel should not be able to operate the way it has been changed so after she made this area the way she liked it this sorceress needed to apply even more magic just so the Garden would be able to run. She saw no trouble in altering things so badly. She doesn't care that the vessel will not be able to operate if she isn't controlling it, she plans to simply allow it to crash into the ground or the water or wherever it happens to be when she loses interest in it. It will eventually collapse and she wont, it is a monument to her enemy anyway even though she has changed it into hers.

Private is perhaps an inappropriate word. The area is large enough to hold hundreds of people and so she makes good use of the space. It is the size of a cathedral and mostly empty space. It is much like the shape of the interior of an egg with a floor at the point where the egg curves at the bottom. The floor is black and dark blue marble and the walls are covered by red as dark and delicious looking as the creators lips. In the center is a shallow circular pool filled with hot warm water which never changes temperature. There is a seat the same shape of the pool within the pool which has the skin of water touching her nipples when she sits up straight on the seat.

She does not sit up straight now, she has her arms on the rim of the pool and the young breasts of the body she stole are pointing to the round ceiling. She is making the sounds of somebody who tastes something delicious. Her eyes are closed and her ceiling colored lips are not, she lolls her tongue in her mouth like she tastes the feeling in her loins.

She is surrounded by soldiers which is her method of filling the space. Each one watches without really watching. By unscientific standards they aren't even alive anymore, yet their pulses beat, their lungs suck up air because they depend on life. They simply live, but they don't live**.** Very few if any of them will _live_ ever again. They stand in circular rows; there are rows within rows of them, the tallest ones in the back. She has them layered like an onion.

There are at least one hundred layers which equate to well over a few hundred soldiers that are not currently heading to the battlefield. These are the soldiers, who overshoot the number of their enemies, Ostentat's taker made carefully sure that she knew how many enemies she was up against. For each SeeD or cadet there is a soldier, for each PesticidE there are five. And that does not include the ones who surround her. She plans to send them out once each and every one of her own soldiers has been vanquished.

And if they are defeated as well then she her elf will put an end to the war. After her enemies are whittled down by her knights then surely killing the remaining enemies –consisting of heroes and 'would have been' heroes no doubt- will be no harder than sweeping dust from a kitchen counter with a handkerchief.

Her taker has been enjoying using this young body to execute her plan. She is normally not solid and so it has been far too long since she has indulged in sexual delight. And indulge she has. She is the reason the Galbadian army has recently accepted women as well as men. There were simply not enough men to reach her quota of soldiers without exhausting the supply of nearly all of them. She found that women did just as well and are equally easy to seduce with enticement magic.

Sometimes she likes to theorize that all humans are bisexual but won't admit it just because they're all picky, and that their pickiness tends to reserve them only one of the two genders to be attracted too. She believes that all humans are in denial about many things.

Her orgasm comes quicker than she expected as a violent shudder in her belly. She gasps several times instead of breathing and one of her hands goes to the head beneath the water that pleases her. She rubs the scalp firmly with her fingers to signal that she isn't ready for him to stop despite the fact that she is quite done. The tongue goes inside her again which makes her want to squirm her hips. Oh she has missed tangible things and a tangible body so.

Although she enjoys the continuing treatment she is receiving to her loins she does not expect another orgasm from this man. He has outlived her usefulness, she won't even have him fight, she only wanted him this once and she knows that she'll never want him again. Men who she has no love for can never maintain her interest beyond the first time she has them.

She takes her hand from his head and rests it on the rim of the pool again. She wraps her legs around his head so he can't escape. Her knees poke through the skin of the water. Her eyes watch the water above the head; she watches the bubbles come up fixedly in calm anticipation.

She can tell the human is at the beginnings of panic when his tongue loses its calmness and leaves her passage for her clitoris. She is not fixating on coming a second time so the pleasure is dim -although it is still worth coupling with the different pleasure she is having now. She can feel his concern when circling the nub doesn't work and she confirms it when his licking becomes frantic.

The bubbles have become larger now and it is clear that he is losing hope since he is no longer reserving his air. Each bubble is accompanied by at least three others and the bubbles simply aren't stopping right now. The tongue becomes so desperate that it licks in no particular area. He is simply trying to smother her with his palate now, after a while his skill for pleasing women is the first part of him to die.

The bubbles have become enormous now and are accompanied not by other bubbles but small bursts of white water. It may be bubbling spit in part. She is amazed he hasn't resorted to biting her. Certainly in his mania he has also lost his interest in making her happy? Normally by now a human would resort to inflicting pain as a means of escape.

Her stare never changes as she watches the bubbles stop. Her legs stay in the machine strong grip until the mouth on her loins is completely still. The body goes limp and floats a few inches above the pools floor. She squirms her hips, feels his dead mouth kiss her flesh passionlessly.

It has been one minute since her slave's last beat of his heart pulsed and she finally decides to let go of him. Wanting to keep his dead mouth on her is similar to not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. It feels very lovely but she knows she will need to be dressed and active after a little while whether she is needed on the battlefield or not.

She extends one finger and lifts it out of the water and the body floats out of the water at the same speed like it is connected by a rod. She moves his body away from the water and drops their connection so his bodies slaps against the marble floor. Only when the body is completely out of the water does she allow the popped blood vessels to leak out of the nostrils and other orifices. She does not need to request that the body be taken away for burning, two soldiers step up to the body and take it away as if this were normal and as if they were machines designed to lift bodies and take them away.

Cornucopia stands in the water at groin level. Without moving her legs she moves through the water to the center of the pool. The water does not ripple in her wake. She likes to pretend the men and women surrounding her are admiring her wet nakedness but she was the caster of the enticement spell and so she knows the truth. If she were to demand a compliment from one of them it would come only from the mouth and not from the heart. One might say she has their hearts in little cages inside those chests.

She does not think about this however because she only wants to be entertained by the thought of servants complimenting her body. Only from her one true beloved would a compliment mean anything. And he wasn't here… yet. Until then she would just entertain herself with her human toys.

The other matter she wouldn't think about at all was the fact that they wouldn't even be complimenting her; they would be complimenting the dead girl who she has been walking around in. And although in her vanity she likes to think that this body is indeed pretty there is still the fact that this is not her body. She would feel jealous of the dead girl if she was to ask for such a compliment and she will not make herself feel that pain on purpose.

She pretends she doesn't feel any pain at all. The truth is this is the only kind of pain left for her to feel. There is still woman hood in her soul and it is like an exposed nerve ending even when she does not wear her true body.

Once she reaches the center of the water she makes her body turn like a top balanced perfectly, moving in slow motion. Even as she begins the movement we can see the change in the water. The water is being pulled to her and wraps around her body as if it were thin fabric. It seems to be collected beneath the surface and as she turns and wraps it around her body we see the outer edges produce more.

The water seems more abundant now than one would think looking at the shallow pool, because this process puts the notion in our minds that there is an endless supply of the water fabric at the sorceress' feet.

The water level is halved now and we would expect for our villainess to be wrapped in many layers of liquid but she is not. When the water wraps around her it merely forms a shape like a long –and unexpectedly modest- elegant dress. The excess water that we would think would also wrap around her seems to be going nowhere. We think it is vanishing magic and that she is just putting on a show for her mindless soldiers and herself.

As she finishes spinning she leans backward and bends her spine very far back, the water she wears bends with her like it is made of solid matter. She dances without moving her legs for her own amusement, she use to dance this way for her lover…

As she moves this way we see color coming from her pores and seeping into the water around her body and the water still twisting all around her. We see very soon that the color is red and it seeps through the water like veins, she seems to be growing a circulatory system inside her magic dress. She doesn't stop moving this way; she closes her eyes, the red vein shapes grow swiftly through the water branching off to fill all of it.

Cornucopia's body stops dancing and spinning altogether and we see then the excess material that we thought was vanishing really went down her legs and pooled at her feet. There is an impressive twist of fabric shaped water at her feet which will trail behind her many yards when she walks.

Once she stops spinning and once the red veins have touched their tips to the edge of the watery dress she jerks her head back, and the moment she does the red veins explode in a red cloud like blood dropped in the water. The cloud swirls and writhes in the water and fills it, if this were in fact a drop of blood in water the water might be turn a bit pink, but there is very much red in this water and once the cloud has finished mixing with the water it is completely red.

She slowly lowers her head and as that happens the red water rests on her body and around her feet. It shimmers in the light less like water and more like satin, her head stops lowering, and when she opens her eyes that water is satin. The dress has the appearance of simply being wrapped around her but it is shaped like an actual dress, her gloves reach her elbows and appear twisted as well.

Cornucopia is facing away from the doorway now. She elevates gradually into the air and the rest of her dress follows her up. There is an opening for her legs in front of her so she can walk. The material does not unravel as she elevates in the air, rather, it is supposed to look that way.

Cornucopia Ostentat's body is completely dry now. Every drop went in to making her fancy dress. Every drop of water for her fashion.

Every drop of blood for her conquest.

Cornucopia Ostentat turns around in the air and floats the ground before the entry way. She passes through the arch with the strut of a victor although the fight is not yet over. Her first task in this battle is approaching, she could feel him.

Her first knight was nearby.

**The Second Demon of Balamb Garden**

During the battle Quistis had developed not only a sore throat but two wounds on her back and another on her whipping arm, the only one between the three that she has bothered to heal is the one on her arm. One particularly lucky Galbadian soldier struck close enough to break the bridge that held her glasses together; his stomach was ripped open since he had managed to become so close.

Quistis was lucky that she had found her glasses halves to pick them up –they were now in her purple vests front pockets- and she was even luckier that Savior was around at the time. Normally she would have thought herself simply fortunate but Savior had not predictably spent much the battle away from her. She supposed he had much confidence in her which was why. Other soldiers on their side needed him more than she did anyway.

Now Quistis wishes that she had brought her contacts but at the same time she wonders if it would have mattered since she rarely has a free moment to catch her breath and look away from her enemy. To a SeeD of her rank any Galbadian soldier is no harder to dispatch than a cockroach with six severed legs. But when you have this amount of anything, even something as weak as a Galbadian soldier, even somebody like her is hard pressed to dispatch her enemy.

So now she needs to squint to see them –or rather to see the shapes of their bodies. Everything is fuzzy to her now but not so much that she is thrown in to grave peril. Despite the fuzziness she can tell ally from enemy, and if she squints she can see the shape of their bodies better. Everything is still rather fuzzy though.

Quistis cracks her whip behind her and swings for a soldier sneaking up on an ally, he's a cadet. Her whip wraps around the soldiers neck and he stops instantly… but he doesn't grab for his throat. So far every enemy has been like this and Quistis is very alarmed by it still. She twists Save the Queen experimentally to fill the enemy's neck with the crystal thorns hiding inside the whip. There is still no reaction from the enemy.

This has happened so many times now that Quistis is officially convinced that their enemies have had their free will suspended. That they are no better than electric race car toys armed with sabers. Another reason is that their tactics are suspiciously good which itself declared a lack of Galbadian insight.

What made them seem less human was that they worked together as if they had no conflicting minds. These soldiers do things together that cannot be planned spur of the moment; they team up without signals or any kind of communication for that matter. Quistis thinks that their gifted soldiers and PesticidE's are the only real reason they've been winning this battle. Aside from Guardian Force assistance obviously.

Quistis cracks the whip and the head goes with it. The body falls to its knees and the rest of it rolls to the ground. The cadet she saved moves on to save another ally in the same sneaky manner. Without saving them another glance Quistis jerks around and cracks the whip again. She can do this in any direction and she will find an enemy to strike. There are so many enemies…

When she spins she is alarmed to see many blurs growing in front of her and when she squints she is further alarmed to see at least a dozen of the enemy soldiers focusing on _her_. On her practical hand she is upset that she has attracted so much attention and is now being judged as one of the larger threats. On the other hand she is a little pleased that her enemies are judging her as such a threat.

Quistis wants to slap herself for feeling her inner Seifer, or acknowledging that she has an inner Seifer at all.

Already having her weapon drawn behind her Quistis twists her whips handle so the crystal thorns sprout from the tempered Malboro tentacle. She swings a wide horizontal arc with the weapon and it crosses her peripheral vision completely. The swing tears apart the bellies of the four soldiers who stood at the front of their group. At first they continue running, they don't even drop their weapons. But with hollow stomachs and intestines dangling around their ankles they fall over. Quistis watches them twitch and try to crawl forward despite the hopelessness.

_Ostentat is insane,_ thought Quistis. _She won't even let her own dying protectors rest._

_Probably because she would consider them failures,_ she thinks bitterly.

Quistis swings her whip horizontally again and this time she fells three soldiers, they don't give up even after falling just like the other four. The other four are still trying to crawl even though they are losing control of their limbs due to the massive blood loss. They are still nowhere near her. Quistis tries to count them by squinting harder and she is pretty sure that there are about five of this little group left.

Watching her dying enemies crawl even after they are defeated makes Quistis wonder if Ostentat is allowing her failures feel the pain because of their failure. She won't entertain this thought much longer.

As the remaining enemies close in on her she can make out their finer features better, although finer features are probably a generous word to describe Galbadian soldier. In truth seeing closer features doesn't help her in fighting them at all but some part of her is more comfortable with seeing her enemies in detail.

Quistis sees that none of her remaining enemies in this group are lined up together, they are scattered now, and she knows instantly that each one of these soldiers will need to be taken down with one stroke each. They move faster than they should.

She cracks her whip back and then forward again to the closest one. The whip wraps around the soldiers knees pulling them together, like a snake striking for constriction but so much faster. She pulls the whip away which readies her for the next strike and simultaneously severs both legs at the knee. For fear that the enemy may reach her or an ally eventually she commits the next strike to carving a split down the middle of the cranium with the crystal knife on the end of her whip.

The one who is now closest loses both of his arms with two quick strikes; Quistis grits her teeth and tells herself this one can't harm her anymore. But she has trouble believing that as she watches him run to her with the same fervor as if he intended to bite her to death.

_Hyne why did I have to get careless and lose my glasses?_ She asks herself without considering herself lucky that she was spared her brain with the strike that took her spectacles.

Quistis cracks her whip around the nearest armed soldier and this time with both hands she pulls her weapon back to her. The upper half of the enemy soldier comes off and rolls down the whip as it slithers through the air to her side again. The upper body plummets face first with torn bowels hanging from the bottom in shreds. The enemy looks confused now because he is no longer facing Quistis; his delirium from blood loss makes him look nauseatingly like he is impersonating a Geezard.

The whip wraps around the last armed enemy vertically so it wraps from groin to the right shoulder. Save the Queen tears the body just as easily as it did with the softer matter and the joints of the bones. This enemy at least does not try to overcome her as he endures death.

Quistis can imagine her male counterparts making horrible faces at her for destroying a mans loins in the process of killing him. Quistis herself didn't realize what the big deal was since she was killing the man anyway. Men seemed to have some emotional attachment to their dicks that seemed childish to her. She thought it was rather silly to place more importance on one part of your body over another. There had been more than one time in her life when Quistis thought she'd be better off like a doll. Men never seem to have the same thought.

Perhaps the relationship between man and cock would forever be a mystery to her.

The armless enemy is slowing down on account of massive blood loss. His stumps are releasing so little blood that the pressure is as weak as a clogged faucet. He is stumbling but has managed to come very close to her. Quistis maintains her stance and squints so that she appears to just be scowling defensively. But she doesn't really have a working mind to scowl for.

The enemy stops just short of her and falls face first at her feet. His arms leak droplets and tiny streams as thin as the soldiers own veins. If not for the war cries and the sounds of metal clashing and the loud agony Quistis would be able to hear the soldier breathing still. She would be able to hear him gasping private apologies to his master. She might have heard him requesting pathetically from his master more blood and a new pair of arms so he might redeem his failure.

Quistis forgets about the soldier who would have made her shudder and she spins around then she pulls on her whip so that it is behind her, she doesn't notice that it is lying on a pair of severed legs.

Another soldier stands before her; he must have snuck up on her. But now he has no interest in killing her, his own weapon fell from his hand and lays on one of his feet. A familiar sword has cleaved down the middle of the head through the helmet and is pointing at her through the neck. The scalpel shaped blade is turned ninety degrees which splits both halves of the head so they hang on either side of the damaged neck. The stump lets loose a geyser of blood spraying her face and her clothes. He pushes the blade to the side and the body falls over spilling blood like a broken fire hydrant.

Savior is covered in considerably more blood than she was which makes her much less irritated at him for killing the soldier so close to her. He stands sideways before her which makes him seem abundantly arrogant. But with an enemy gored beside him thusly his arrogance doesn't look unfounded. His uniform looks redder than it has ever been, he may need to have it replaced after the battle.

"She's coming!" he shouts perfectly clearly, but Quistis can't help but wonder if she has heard him right. She can't imagine what he means or who he's talking about, maybe he meant that Selphie and Xu had joined the battle and one of the two of them was going to back them up.

"Savior we have this area covered, Selphie and Xu need to be elsewhere." An enemy soldier charges Savior and he sidesteps closer to her coolly and clotheslines him with his sword. The helmet and the upper half of the enemies head lands beside him.

Quistis casts a quick Fire spell to her side in the bowels of another soldier, once the smoldering sound dies down Savior speaks up again. "I'm talking about the enemy Quistis." Savior isn't facing her and she is worried by that, why won't she face him when she can't see his face anyway?

"The sorceress is coming, if you had any impromptu sorceress extermination plans then now is the time to execute them." Another soldier comes after Savior and for this one he actually moves his entire body, both arms are lost after Savior pivots around the enemy. There is so much blood on the grass that Savior is literally sliding around the soldier. He puts his sword through the enemy's back and splits one spinal column the same way he split the other ones head.

Quistis casts a basic blizzard spell behind her which crushes the head and helmet of another enemy who tried to sneak up on her amidst the madness of sound; this is another soldier who doesn't try to crawl after her.

Quistis wishes she could hear his tone of voice because she fears he is inching towards a confession. But she doesn't want him to have anything to confess.

For the first time Quistis values Saviors mask, because without it she doesn't think she could pretend that her lover is perfect. It isn't until now that she realizes she has been pretending he is just that. This is the first moment she wonders if she's been wrong about that all this time.

Quistis quickly decides this train of thought will probably just earn her injury or death. She instead brings her attention to the message that Savior intended for her which was the matter of the sorceress. Savior spins on the blood around Quistis and slashes apart another sneaky soldier with three swift and wide strikes. He moves on the grass like he is mechanized and that the ground itself is moving him.

How does he know the sorceress is coming? She thinks but doesn't want to say aloud. She hasn't shown any signs of arrival that I've noticed; _perhaps I just couldn't see it without my glasses?_ But surely the sorceress would choose to be very grand and even without her glasses Quistis could make out something the size of an omnipotent ego. Quistis is worried and confused by Savior knowing that their enemy is going to show up soon.

"How do you know?" she screams just loud enough for him to make her out and she prepares her whip then swings through the ankles of a soldier charging the same cadet from earlier. This time the cadet notices her and salutes her as briefly as he thinks is safe before he turns around and immerses him self in the battle once again.

Quistis expects a response from Savior but he is silent, but he doesn't leave her back side. She hears his weapon but neither does it speak to her. She hears it screaming death to their enemies, Savior hears Save the Queen clenching its thorns and killing with the same savageness but with infinitely more subtlety. Quistis keeps waiting for him but he clearly doesn't intend to speak.

Quistis is further worried that she will soon hear a dreaded confession. She doesn't know what to expect from him. She knew because he was a PesticidE that he could very well be some criminal but surely anybody could be redeemed by saving as many lives as he had. Couldn't they? Surely he is redeemed from whatever he's done?

"Savior?" She yells to him and she sounds much more desperate than anybody ever should during combat. Her scream draws three more soldiers to Saviors back, the first of which is fried internally from a thunder spell which she tosses to his belly the way somebody strikes a ping pong ball with the paddle. Savior does not speak; he only watches her back for her.

Maybe he doesn't hear me, she thinks. Quistis jabs Savior in the back with her elbow just after she takes the head of the second soldier coming for them. She doesn't intend to take the head back to her but it sticks to her whip firmly and rolls beside their feet when she pulls her weapon back to her side. Savior grunts when she hits him but he doesn't speak at once.

"She's announcing her arrival right now, that's how I know." She can imagine him with stubbornness in his voice like he really doesn't want to confess what he just did. After he admits that it takes Quistis a few moments –divided between finishing the third soldier and after she finishes the forth soldier- to piece together what he just told her.

Quistis herself can hear perfectly well and she knows that if an actual announcement were made she would have heard it. If the gates of Galbadia Garden opened the sound would overcome the screams and shouts and injuries of the battlefield. She knew that if there were a parade float she would have seen it no matter how far away.

Savior is hearing their enemy but she is not…

Her head goes numb, her heart splits down the middle; and then Quistis brings the blade at the end of her up into her other hand and she spins around to her lover and puts the blade over his neck. He doesn't even try to attack her or even get out of the hold. His arms are held out to his sides. Other PesticidE's are taking the job of protecting them when they see the quarrel. This is remarkable because nobody is trained for this predicament.

Judging by how he has submitted Quistis thinks that Savior expected her to do something like this. The fact that he is letting her means he had to have expected it, and since he is letting there are now a few drops of hope acting like adhesive in that fresh crack in the middle of her heart. But it's not nearly enough to seal it completely.

"Are you a traitor?" she is still yelling but only loud enough for him to hear, they are close enough now that she can lower her voice.

"No," he says perfectly clearly –she can tell that he has been rehearsing his lines for this moment- and now Quistis realizes she should probably rephrase her question. Think of something he literally cannot lie about.

_He doesn't lie to me to begin with_, she thinks to her self stubbornly. In the back of her mind she is questioning that with equal reluctance.

Quistis decides exactly what she is wondering and she is sure that she will get the answer that she doesn't want. "Are you one of Cornucopia Ostentat's knights?" Quistis does not need to wait through silence this time.

"No," he repeats in a way that sounds less rehearsed. Quistis almost wants to shake with rage, at herself and not Savior, she wants to believe that he's lying but she cannot bring herself to think he lies to her. She will try one more rephrase but this one earns no creative thought because she is beginning to feel panicked.

"Are you anybodies knight?" she's beginning to sound desperate and she is extremely annoyed that she is breaking protocol thusly. Not for holding her weapon to an ally, she is annoyed that she is sounding desperate.

This time he doesn't answer at once, he had only expected her first question, and he half expected the second one. "I can think of somebody who would like to think so," he hopes that the defiance in that statement will have her believing they are still allies and have been for the past three years. But he doesn't need to hope for her to believe it because she can't help but trust him. If she had her way she wouldn't even threaten him with her weapon, she would simply ask him the questions and she would believe his answers.

Despite that Quistis does not feel ready to take her whip-knife away from his neck. Actually she is not ready to let go of him. She squeezes his waist with her other arm and tries to bury her face in the back of his shoulder, she ends up nuzzling him for there is no crook there for burying her face.

"I'm sorry." He doesn't really hear her because she says it so quietly, she says it as quietly as she would if they were in the bedroom and not on the battlefield, so he guesses rightly what she said. Her voice creates a small vibration in the spot of his uniform that she speaks in to.

Quistis lowers her weapon and steps away from him. He turns around and sees her suck in a deep breath and she raises her gaze to him with all seriousness and trust once again. "How do you know that she's coming?"

"She is speaking directly in to my mind just like she does with her soldiers. None of the other PesticidE's are like me." Quistis appreciates confirmation about the other PesticidE's but she is always more concerned about him, always discovering more about Savior.

Which he has done a fine job of making impossible up until now; he really did a bang up job of deciding when to spit this entire spiel out.

"What are you like exactly?" She is not entirely sure if they are still being protected by their comrades but Quistis is still giving her full attention to Savior.

"I have a mental connection with her but I'm not on her side." She believes him but there is that tiny lack of trust left in her still. She has to know how to happened, how long has he had this connection?

"If you have a mental connection with her then you must be one of her knights," she can not help but sound accusing and she hopes that he is worried he might still lose her trust.

"I'm a traitor," Savior states this matter-of-fact without missing a beat.

Quistis cannot say anything to that because the gates of Galbadia Garden open up behind her. Most of the fighting continues normally but some people spare glances at the opening. Everybody knows that she is coming now, it doesn't take a telepathic connection to notice the parade float style platform as big as two stacked Black Widows come on to the battlefield.

Our enemy sorceress is most fond of parade floats.

Quistis turns around to see the float which to her looks likes a nondescript blob of fuzziness and colors which are hard to make out. She takes the left half of her broken spec's and holds it in place on her face, she squints her right eye so she can see through the spectacle properly. Quistis does take in the vibrancy of the thing in front of her but she will not bring her self to be surprised by it.

When she was judging the size when it was just a blur to her she did not realize how accurate her comparison to Black Widows had been. It was literally two black widows, their legs folded on the underbellies, stacked on top of one another. They were painted differently in intricate designs. Primarily they were white but with designs of green, red, black and dark gold. They were designed to be beautiful like something built for a Garden. If Gardens had designed the Black Widows then they would have looked something like that –sans the color scheme depending on which Garden would have designed it.

On the back of the top Widow was a throne like seat in the middle and four flags on the four corners. The flags flap in the wind violently and most of the material of the sorceress's dress flaps the same way. The flat does not move on its own, it is carried by the blue winged Galbadian war machines armed with homing missiles. They support it with their arms and their wings. They look like they are tiring and stressing under the weight of it as if they were human. The sorceress perhaps prefers the efficiency of machines, but misses the torment of humans.

Quistis stops her train of thought when it occurs to her that her enemy could feel longing for anything. She has never thought of corrupt sorceress's sharing every human emotion before now. She is afraid to think why she is making that assumption.

Maybe it is because her enemy is inside a body that resembles one of her closest friends. If that is the reason then she may never admit it to her self or anybody else.

Quistis quickly takes notice that this whole time she and Savior have not been protected but their enemies have not been approaching them anyway. She wonders if this began just now when their enemy showed her self. Quistis believes that she has confirmed that when she sees the change in behavior of the enemy knights.

As the float travels across the battlefield the nearby surviving knights abandon whatever duel they are involved in to create an aisle of soldiers to guide the parade float. At first the soldiers simply look insane and we must remind ourselves that their minds do not belong to them anymore. Our SeeDs and cadets are extremely puzzled when their enemies simply run from them to obey their master, but not every knight is coming to his mistress's side so there is no shortage of enemies despite this strange behavior.

Morale increases because of their enemy essentially using less of their power to fight and more to show off. The troops are happy and uplifted but the higher officials like Quistis worry about this level of arrogance on their enemy's part.

Quistis looks to the red chains around the enemy Garden, and she wonders if the surprise that has in store for them is one of her enemy's sources of arrogance.

At first it seems impossible but it is clear that the knights really are making an aisle for the sorceress. They get ahead of her float like good minions, the aisle becomes very long and Quistis notes that it is coming towards her. Briefly she wonders if the sorceress is approaching her specifically but she hates to imagine why.

Knights not a part of the aisle, instead of trying to kill SeeDs and cadets are trying to merely steer them away from the aisle so there are less bodies in the way of the float. The machines flatten foot steps in to the bodies that are in the way. Under the weight the parts stepped on are pressed so strongly that the flesh is imbedded in to the dirt and torn bloody grass. The foot steps look like blood clots in little streams of muddy gore.

Quistis soon believes that the aisle is coming her way; the soldiers push and pull her SeeDs and cadets away from the straight line between her and the enemy Garden. The aisle is way ahead of the float and so the machines walking it forward pick up their pace, but not abruptly, they speed up one step at a time so as to not appear comical.

When a knight finds his place in the aisle he or she faces inside of it so they are face to face with the soldier across from them. They hold their sabers in front of their faces so their faces appear divided by them. Quistis half expects them to hold their weapons outward for a more extravagant salute. Finally the knights stop making an aisle, and of course they stop just in front of her. Quistis finds herself in the middle of the aisle, to her left and her right she finds a knight facing her through their swords.

Experimentally Quistis wraps her weapon around the neck of one soldier and pulls off his head. The body falls over and goes unnoticed by his comrades; the knight who had looked across to the fallen comrade simply looks beyond him now. Quickly another knight rushes from the battle outside of the aisle and takes the place of the fallen knight. Quistis quickly considers doing this with all of them but the sorceress is coming and she will no doubt tolerate only so much of that.

The float looms forward and Quistis wants very much to put at least one lens on but she feels that she needs both hands for this. The foot steps of the carrying machines is getting louder and wetter, one steps on two bodies laying atop one another which throws the float off kilter for a second and creates a much louder crunching sound than the others have produced.

The float is upon Quistis soon, there are six knights between her and the first row of carrying war machines. Quistis sees that the sorceress has gone so far as to have the machines bow their heads, she cannot even look in to the machines sight sensors like yellow liquid light.

Ostentat stands from her throne and approaches the edge of her float. The battle rages on to either side of them, Quistis dares not look away to check and see if her side is still winning. She looks up to see the slightly blurry form of Ostentat, her dress makes her look to Quistis, like an amorphous red blob trying to move like a flag in strong but forgiving wind.

If Quistis could see properly right now she would know that Ostentat is not actually looking at her, but just a bit above her.

_**EG**_

"Savior?" the enemy asks loudly and inquiringly. "That is what they call you now isn't it?" she sounds so mocking, and the way she seems to be mocking gives Quistis a mixed feeling of dread and excitement.

Savior puts his hand on Quistis's shoulder and moves her a bit to the side, she steps away from him like he wants her to and she resides beside one aisle of knights, she resists the urge to take her frustration out on the neck of the enemy next to her.

_And now the spot light is on Savior,_ she thinks to herself.

Savior does not answer the sorceress but he does look up to her through one goggle. She waits for him to speak but he does not. He is waiting for her to speak again.

She does love playing with him but she has decided that she should get to the point. He will join her or be punished. "Take off the mask and join me, I have more to offer than they do." She spreads her arms out wide, she may just be gesturing or she may be offering the body she is using as well.

"You don't have what I want," he says very clearly. The sorceress is not shaken.

"I have everything," she says proudly. But Savior shakes and lowers his head, solemn, impatient.

"If that were true then you wouldn't be after me. And on that note I know this war isn't just about me so you clearly lack a lot of important things." Now the sorceress is stirred, she is no longer grinning at Savior but she still feels that she is in power.

"Join me," she states like an angry mother telling her child to finish his dinner.

"I'll sooner kill you."

"Join me!" She shouts threateningly and she thrusts her head and shoulders in his direction.

"Fuck off," again, he doesn't miss his beat.

Cornucopia fumes and seems ready to shout again but she stops then, she freezes her motion instantly as if struck by a Stop spell. Her face relaxes back to normal and she smiles once more then she straightens her back. Savior raises his head again and Quistis wonders desperately what his face looks like now –not his identity for once, she wants to know his emotion, she wants to know what he is thinking about.

Quistis doesn't think she can do anything, something tells her she needs to leave this to Savior.

"It's this new identity of yours," she states rightly and Savior does not even try to fool her. He does not say anything. But he whispers, and Quistis swears she hears a breath come from his mask. She wants to know what he said.

Three years ago when Ultimecia possessed Edea and threw the icicles in to Squalls shoulder she gave him a look. A look that fakes concern flawlessly with leisure, those yellow eyes might have said, 'Can I help?'

And now she uses that look again.

"I'm going to show you my face again," she tilts her head to the side feigning cuteness just as is faking concern. "But first you're going to show me yours."

"No," Savior says defiantly despite his lack of power over the situation. Quistis thinks this is what he breathed before.

Cornucopia raises one arm and points directly into the air and as she moves it two dots of intense heat sprout on the front and back base of Saviors neck, there is no pain but he thinks there will be. As she elevates her arm the spots rise and become lines running up the middle on both sides of his helmet until they reach the top. He is screaming now which strikes at Quistis's heart but at the same time she knows that those lips she loves are not damaged.

Quistis feels like the enemies tool, she would sooner never know his identity than watch him suffer like this. But despite that the little demon in her who would do anything to rip off that mask is fumbling in her pockets for her broken glasses. She puts them in front of her face and connects them; we can still see the crack down the middle. Quistis looks forward like an insane baseball fan looking through binoculars.

Cornucopia repositions her hand above her head and snaps her fingers and in that moment the mask breaks open. It happens just the way Saviors previous kill did when he split one knight's head in two. The light orange sparks are like the explosion of blood, and the halves of the helmet break apart and rest on their respective shoulders, the rims are smoking where the magic burned.

Seeing this struck Quistis in the heart, she feels like she has just seen the face she loves torn in two.

The shock from the spell kicks his head back and ripples through his bones traveling from his cranium down to the tips of his toe bones, Savior falls to his knees but manages to keep from bending back too far with what strength he has left in his back. His head is tilted back and the chin length hair that Quistis was already aware of is hanging behind his face. But the smoke still obscures him; Quistis can only make out a youthful but strong jaw which she is shallowly happy to see.

The smoke on the rims of Saviors broken face thins to a few tendrils; Quistis sees a white mans face, she sees a familiar black eye patch over his destroyed eye… she sees a deep red scar…

"You. Bitch."

Quistis sees on her lover Saviors shoulders, Seifer Almasy's head, sticking out of her dead lover like an ugly butterfly splitting a handsome cocoon.

"YOU BITCH!" Seifer brings his torso forward and slips one knee into the kneeling position then he leaps from the ground to the head of the first black widow, he uses the widow for leverage to back flip upward and he brings his sword over his head. They make eye contact briefly and she breaths in his hatred and loves how filling it is for her heart. He feels angrier at the look on her face and ignores how that will disadvantage him.

But Seifer has a plan; he knows she wants him and she will never have him again, and he can't wait to see the look on her face when she knows that too.

Cornucopia slides backward and the two front flags bend with a life of their own and cross to block his swing. Seifer swings down and hacks through both flags and the stumps go back to their positions and shake violently. He steps on the top platform and charges at his still grinning enemy.

He swings at her stomach but it moves backward without the rest of her body like it is jelly, he swings at the middle of her face and it moves inward in the same way –briefly Seifer is alarmed that his former mistress is making ugly a visage she wears, it does not seem at all like her.

But he is not thrown off so he cannot try to strike again, he swings a full five more times and each time she moves like gelatin out of his weapons way. Each time she slides back just a bit more because he gains ground on her with each swing. He expects she will have some surprise attack ready for him just when he thinks he has gained every bit of ground on her but he has already begun this strategy and he intends to see it through.

Cornucopia stands on the edge of the float and with this swing to her head she arches her back to avoid the blade, her smile never changes. And just before she brings her head back up a yellow tentacle lashes out from behind the float and wraps tightly around her neck, now her smile changes. The tentacle twists and fills with large holes the neck of the body. Savior takes his opportunity and drives his sword between the small breasts and severs the spinal cord.

There is no blood, one might expect that there would be some actual life restored in the taken body, but it is dead and long dead bodies do not bleed. Only the beauty has been preserved and only the smell has been nullified.

Somehow, Cornucopia moves her arms, she grabs the blade with one and with the other she grasps the yellow tentacle behind her head. Like bullets a blue light travels from her hands through the weapons and shock the hero's hands and knocks them back several feet. Savior skids on the top of the Black Widow but recovers before he can fall.

Cornucopia un-wraps the cord from around her neck slowly; she feels no pain because she chooses what to feel when inhabiting the body of another. The crystal thorns come out especially slowly and tear the skin further when the tips scrape at her. And although she feels no pain she does feel anger. She is disappointed with the damage the same way she might be disappointed if a vase she liked was broken.

She throws the whip behind her and it hits the ground limply, she pulls the sword out of her chest and there is a minimal amount of blood stain. Seifer stands and she throws his weapon back to his feet. He lifts it with a foot and flips it in to his hand.

Seifer does not take immediate action this time, this time he waits for his enemy to do that, he is hoping he has enraged her enough. He watches her raise her head to look at him with her fake doe eyes. That face is a filter for whatever emotion she may be feeling now, that face is not hers. But he thinks that he can look past that flesh mask, Seifer thinks he has done his task.

"Worthless," she hisses and he feels unpleasant warmth on his back, she does not even offer him another chance with her; she is resorting to forcing him in to her custody again.

He resists the urge to grin because he knows it will not work.

"Why ever did I want you back?" she asks her self but really she is saying it to him, this one does not work, he feels no sensation from it.

"You're a failure anyway," she almost shouts and this time he feels something profound, the feeling of hot needles stabbing in to each vertebrae, he winces visibly this time but he manages to stay standing. He develops sweat on his forehead, and he looks at her to dare for more.

She is not thrown off by that look and he thanks Hyne for that ignorance. "You're weak," another set of psychic needles in his spine, this time his knees buckle and he falls to his kneel again, he does not notice the pain in his knees when they strike the metal. On his back, red spots sprout down his back from neck to tail bone, and some sprout from his shoulder blades as well. There seems to be fire beneath his coat.

Cornucopia clearly sees that the time to leave his proximity is coming, she leans her body forward and the cloth over her shoulder blades rips open from black feathers "Traitor!" She screams with personal hate, and this one hurts most of all, but not because of her. Just as she screams it the black feathers explode from her dress and her wings are ready, with one grand flap she is off of the Black Widow and she soars backward so she is out of range.

The traitor remark hits home like none of the others; the red dots are plentiful and spread out to create a shape along his back. Two triangular shapes, and two axe shapes, all joined in the middle of his back create a bright red Fire Cross, it shines its shape off of his back.

_Just one more,_ he thinks gasping for air from the heat inside of his body, he feels like there is humidity coming out of his lungs. _Say I'm your fucking Boy and finish me_.

Ostentat is now a safe distance from the blast radius, and then she says just what Seifer wants "_Pathetic little boy!"_ she screams, her voice a weapon that targets the ego.

He feels the pain but he does not revel in it like she wants him too, instead he braces himself. With the last remark the bright cross on Seifers back literally sinks inside his body and creates the worst of the pain for him, he does not try to hold back his lung ripping scream.

In a flash the area around Seifer is engulfed, bright red fire blossoms from his body in all direction and creates a great orb of swirling negative energy which takes with it more than a dozen knights standing by. Those with minds of their own were smart enough to stay away from the Ostentat's float.

The great red flame stops swirling and roars upward as a pillar. Higher and higher it goes seemingly with the intent to unmake the sky, the higher it goes the thinner it becomes, it goes so high that we can not see the top, and it gets to thin that the only thing that could be inside it is a man.

But he really is not a man anymore; he is not even a boy.

Cornucopia dives to the blasted landscape and soars over it high enough that the useless legs to not drag across the ground. The area is an indentation in the earth, evenly rounded, not a bit of grass is left, just wet soil. The float is now non-existent.

The red fire dies down so that it is less of a pillar, it dies down so that there is little left except from its source. In the middle of the space we see a completely black figure, he kneels on one knee, his head is bowed, he holds his weapon in his right hand and the Red Cross still shines on his back.

Ostentat stops before her alleged knight and levitates before him; she folds her wings at her back. He appears to be bowing for her so she smiles triumphantly; she wishes she could have the blonde woman there so she could see him betray her again.

Seifer is black in his entirety now. His uniform, his skin, his hair, all the same black and dark grays, his eye is closed, and his eye patch is absent, where the eye patch would be there is a gaping hole larger than his eye socket is supposed to be.

Seifer extends his sword outward and holds that position. The right most spot of the cross on his back wells up with liquid red light in a single drop, and that drop travels across his arm leaving a trail of more energy behind it. More beads of liquid light follow it across his arm and once they reach the sword in his hand the sword will absorb it.

Eventually the entire cross is transferred into the sword. The sword jerks in his hand but he holds it steady. The hilt reshapes so there is a sharp triangular tip as a pommel, on either side the blades edges a pair of axe shapes appear as the hand guard, and the scalpel shaped blade alters itself so it is as a triangle.

He now holds Fire Cross ablaze with energy of undoing.

"Stand for me First Knight," she says like she is his master again, with the curse she gave him activated she can give him any order and he will follow. It is supposed to now be her pride he values most instead of his own.

Seifer snaps his head up and opens his eye; instead of opening his eyelid seems to explode with angry green fire with a flashing white pupil, and the look of a man with no master in front of him.

Seifer swings horizontally across his former master's waist and severs it like he was swinging through the air. Ostentat flaps once and propels herself in to the air leaving her loins and legs behind. The lower half of her body is engulfed by the red energy and shrivels until it is nothing like an ice cube melting under hot water.

Seifer stands and looks on at a safe Quistis in the distance. He bows to her, and he does not raise his head until he senses another threat around him.

_**EG**_

Cornucopia is furious. She has no idea how he could have come under the control of another. She created that curse for him with the mind that he would obey her and only her. She did recall creating the curse so that he would obey the one who he was devoted to and he was devoted to her. She cannot imagine that changing even under his circumstances.

She regrets very much the loss of the young girl's loins; she had one other victim intended for them. She supposed that she would have to use her mouth for the last one. He was her last trump card before her own self it seemed.

_Oh well,_ she thinks. Seifer Almasy would have been very useful but the truth was she only wanted him for sentimental value. There was just a certain charm to that boy that has always had her.

Her first choice was just as resilient as Almasy however which worried her. But surely she could have him; Almasy must have found another because he was a fine figure of a man but Grave was not attractive to any human woman. Surely if he were offered sex from a legless woman with an eager mouth he would consider the best he could ever get. It would not take long to make him cave.

_I still have Grave_, she thinks relaxed, _I still have Grave._


	14. The Onslaught Of The Demons

_Disclaimer: I don't own it and I never will. I also don't own the movie that I referred to but I do own all of the stuff that is really and clearly mine. You can most certainly point these things out for yourselves since you are intelligent enough to read. Instead of a song for this month I have selected the description of heaven in the play 'Angels In America.' It's very good, HBO did a two part movie of it. I have been reading my favorite scene in my libraries copy of the script chronically._

_Like San Francisco_

_Big city, overgrown with weeds, but flowering weeds. On every corner a wrecking crew and something new and crooked going up catty-corner to that. Windows missing in every edifice like broken teeth, fierce gusts of gritty wind, and a gray high sky full of ravens._

_Isaiah._

_Prophet birds._

_Piles of trash, but lapidary like rubies and obsidian, and diamond-colored cowspit streamers in the wind. And voting booths._

_And a dragon atop a golden horde._

_And everyone in Balenciaga gowns with red corsages, and big dance palaces full of music and lights and racial impurity and gender confusion._

_And all the deities are creole, mulatto, brown as the mouths of rivers._

_Race, taste and history finally overcome._

_And you ain't there._

_-Scene four, act three of Perestroika, Angels in America by Tony Kushner._

**Part Fourteen: Onslaught of Demons**

**And the Chains Came Undone**

Seifer lifts himself from his bow after he is sure that Quistis has registered the gesture. He stands up straight and looks at her again from a distance, she has not moved, her face has probably not changed either. He is not going to judge her, he will understand if she disowns him, as much as he wants her to keep him. And even if she will not keep him he still bows in respect because she has become the one who he answers too, it is her pride and safety that is his concern now.

He is no longer concerned about his own life or safety. Those insults that he provoked from the sorceress were fire to his pride in a magical sense, and so now his pride is completely burned away. That is why he has become like this, why he is dark like ink, why he sees the world only in blazing shades of green that is why he can hold negative energy in his hand without deteriorating.

When a normal man loses his pride he becomes pathetic, he is as good as invertebrate, he loses all interest in himself and others and he dies from choking self pity -or he busts his head open from his lack of a spine.

But when Seifer Almasy loses his pride, when his mask comes off and he becomes himself again, he is no longer any kind of man. His pride is what makes him human because of his curse, and so without it he is a demon. He is a powerful servant for whichever woman owns him.

The sorceress thought he would always belong to her because of her incomparable arrogance. It had never occurred to her that she could not take for granted a knight who she gave no affection -or any kind of courtesy for that matter. She thought she would only need to make a knight come once and they would be her toy. The truth was the control itself was the toy, and if it was not maintained and taken care of then it breaks. Their connection still existed which was why he could hear her mental commands, but he belongs to Quistis now, so he need not obey the sorceress.

He hopes that she will take him, because she will have him even if she does not.

Seifer grabs one half of his helmet with his free hand and he tears it off, he throws the half helmet to the ground, he did not mean to make it fall so that it stares at him. The blackness is only on the outside of the helmet, inside is natural black color of the plastic. The edges of the magic blackness become ragged in the wind now that it is no longer attached to him. The wind peels the blackness from the helmet; little pieces of it rip off and float in the wind like slivers of cotton coming loose from its stem.

Seifer rips off the other half of his helmet and throws it next to the other one. This side of the helmet also lands facing him, this one lands on its edges. The wind finishes peeling off the blackness from the first half of the helmet as the second half is peeling its own blackness away.

_If only it were that easy for humans,_ he thinks to himself.

The knights who had ceased fighting for sake of their owner's arrogance were coming together again and the whole battlefield was taken over by actual battle again. A group of ten closes in on Seifer from ten different directions. They close in on him unnaturally fast and he decides that the sorceress has probably enhanced them, which means that every other soldier is probably enhanced by now. She had not realized before that she would need to bring out big guns like Knight Enhancement.

She has probably forgotten that although he no longer obeys her he is still connected to her, technically he is still a knight. If they move faster than they did before, and he is now a demon, then he will move faster than that. Seifer's fire eye narrows and his mouth grins blackly. He looks even more the part of a demon when he smiles.

When they are inches from him Seifer's sword arm comes up and divides one soldier in two from groin to skull, the red energy consumes both halves of him. The sword comes down in front of him cutting another soldier, and then he swings behind his back, then to his right and to his left again. Seifer keeps his feet in place as he swings his sword and adjusts his torso for his appropriate swings. He seems to be surrounded like a red carpet of light unraveling from a length from his hand all around his body. It looks like he is wrapping himself inside it until it dissipates or severs a man in two, and then to nothing.

After a pair of seconds Seifer is surrounded by bright red sparks but no body parts, no blood, no shocked faces. The red lights burn out before they can burn little holes in the grass. Seifer begins running before a watcher could register that is not standing still anymore. He strides in Quistis's direction and closes in on her faster than she would react if he were an enemy. Thinking of that he remembers he now has to assure her he is still on her side despite his transformation.

Just as he predicted, in the moment she is granted to register that Seifer is moving towards her she swings her whip in front of her and blocks with it. His sword is behind him, she probably thinks he would go for an over handed swing as a fake out instead of predictably going for an uppercut. She has watched him fight long enough that she would predict things like that from him.

When he is at least five feet away from Quistis –which puts him within range for a swing- he halts and holds a standing position. Some wisps of green flame leave his eye and vanish in front of him from the sudden loss of momentum. The red light his sword leaves behind flaps in front of him like fabric when he stops; it slowly falls apart and dissipates just like the blackness from his former face did.

Quistis looks frightened and appalled but she has not let her guard down. He is not entirely sure if she believes he is good because he is not attacking her now. She must think that he is toying with her by standing before her now. He wants to think that his swift execution of those ten soldiers who no longer existed would be proof enough. But it was also possible that she thought him just a rampaging monster now, without alignment, on nobody's side.

Judging from the look on her face that was probably what she thought of him now. He might have thought she could be more understanding than that, that she would be braver and try to say, 'Seifer?' or even if she called him Savior… he might have even liked that more. He supposes he has to take initial shock into consideration, perhaps she is only going to be this way for the time being.

Seifer thinks she needs further proof of his devotion to her side right now. And just in time we hear a loud metallic groan followed by the sound of clasps coming undone. The battle rages on but our SeeDs try to pay attention to the sound as well as their battles. Seifer looks over Quistis' head and after a while she deems it safe enough to turn her back on him. And they see the chains coming undone.

The difference is subtle at first; from the center, where the chains cross each other is where the movement begins, wee see red metal extending from the center of each link –which are not void like a normal chain link- and from the center each and every other link extends what seem to be red legs. Once each one is finished extending these legs clasp against the hull of the enemy Garden and whatever attachment was keeping each link together goes inside of them.

Before we realize what our SeeDs are up against the enemy Garden appears to be covered in giant red ticks. Then each one leaps from its spot on the hull and they land, synchronized, all around the enemy Garden. The machines were obviously programmed to land thusly, Quistis wonders with the remainder of her working mind if their battle plan is programmed and synchronized too.

Without provocation or any apparent order the machines come charging in to the battlefield, and once she recognizes them Quistis wants to hit herself for not realizing what her enemy was from the beginning. She also wishes that she could have planned for an onslaught of lightening at this point in the battle instead of at the beginning.

The great wave of Black Widows painted bright red move with frightening speed despite their jerky movements. SeeDs that can spare the time to look are alarmed by the new enemy and try to fight their way back in the direction of B-Garden without receiving an order to retreat. Xu would have given that order but now she decides it is pointless seeing her SeeDs acting without it.

Quistis is at a loss of what to do and she knows that Xu would be in the same situation; Selphie and Rinoa never were and never would be any kind of strategist in the way of battle tactics so they could not be much better, and they would have been frightened if they knew their counterparts were just as clueless as they.

Quistis collects her self when she thinks about Selphie and Rinoa and decides that she needs to think of a way to make this work, the SeeDs were retreating already which was a start but ultimately running away would never defeat a horde of Black Widows. She would need some way to give an order for another electric attack, but it would be so much trouble to find enough explosives experts amongst her army to defuse the Widows after they were shocked into submission.

Black Widows are much trouble to defeat; it takes time to make one completely harmless. It also takes order and planning, to have so many thrown at them in the heat of battle like this was too much. Before this war had taken place they had expected that if any Black Widows would be used they would have been deployed from the start because such was Galbadia's tactical nature. At some point during the briefing somebody must have forgotten they were doing battle with a sorceress. They had planned that initial electrical attack for machines in case there were machines.

Quistis for the moment has forgotten entirely about Seifer, which is when Seifer leaps over her head and charges head first towards the fleet of Black Widows. Alone. Quistis does not quite know what to think but she knows she could not stop him. She does not know if she would want to now.

She does know that she is afraid to touch him now.

Seifer cuts a path through enemy soldiers and dodges allies, none of his allies attack him before or after he assists them, at first they are too afraid of him, and once he helps them they either decide that he is with them or that they are lucky because they think he missed them, which is an extremely unfair thing of them to think.

Seifer will not miss any of his targets.

Seifer moves like a train passing those slow Garden issue land vehicles that they did not use anymore. Occasionally he brings his sword into either crowd on either side of him to hack through another enemy soldier and he does not wait to make sure that they vanish completely. Most of the SeeDs that he helps do not even notice him pass, they just see their enemies cleaved in two and then become consumed by bright red light. Most are startled but none are so startled that they forget about the other enemies around them waiting for openings.

Luckily, even when enhanced by their mistress the enemy soldiers are not clever enough to create openings in their enemies. Seifer was very relieved when confirmed this watching his enemy's fight just before he would cut them down. The sorceress was unchanged; she still liked her servants to be vulnerable and stupid. She apparently still liked them to be arrogant too because many of them continued to rush him even after watching him dispatch their allies the same way a hot chain saw divides twine.

Seifer leaves a long trail of red sparks and flame like wisps behind him as he exits the perimeter of the battle grounds and he nears the territory of the oncoming Black Widow -he briefly entertains the idea of calling these ones Red Widows. Before he completely abandons that train of thought he of course realizes humorously that 'Dead Widows' would also be appropriate but he gives it no further thought after that.

Although they are all the same there is one Widow in front appearing to be a leader, although Black Widows do not have any kind of leader, they are only tools of war and could not act as leaders unless if they were being controlled by one. It is not until Seifer thinks of that that it occurs to him that the leader could be the one controlling them.

He closes in on the center Widow first, and once it is in range of him it opens its steel jaws and dives forward to bite down Seifers midsection. Seifer jumps out of its vision instantly and it bites down on air, we can hear the gears and circular saw spinning inside the Black Widows mouth before it makes its bite.

In the air Seifer moves in whatever direction his face points, as he moves up he is looking to the sky, as he makes the arc before he falls he is looking at the enemy Garden, and as he falls he is looking at his target below him. Seifer points his sword downward and grasps it with both hands; he swings his legs down landing on his feet.

Seifer dives down and when the tip of the blade plunges into the back of the Black Widow the negative energy consumes the top of it so quickly that his feet cannot land in time. He falls through the fast decaying metal like he is falling through nothing and when he finally does land the four legs are on four sides of him still, he swings his sword in his hands and brings it to his side as the appendages come apart in to nothing. It very briefly looks like there are four altars around him with the legs being placed as they were.

It is appropriate considering the amount of sacrifices he will be making on this day.

As the legs finish disappearing every other Black Widow pivots to face him. Their artificial intelligence is designed to destroy the nearest target, and since he left the battlefield to deal with the Black Widows that makes him the prime target for each one of them. The sound of metal grinding and clanking happens as the Black Widows ready their weapons. Each one targets him and those that are far in the back crouch for a pounce.

His black mouth grins like a lapdog on a parade float, his eye blazes sharply, his sword hums unfeelingly.

The second demon of Balamb Garden does nothing as the crabs leap high into the sky.

**Lightning and Wind**

It has taken him at least fourteen kills but Raijin has finally gotten used to enemies who do not scream when he breaks their bones. The first few times he wondered if they were human at all but then Fujin reminded him they were probably not very human anymore. To him it was kind of like catching fish and throwing them back with fatal injuries. Except whenever he made that kind of mistake while fishing he had a certain amount of compassion for the fish.

Raijin disarms one soldier whose sword flips in the air four times before it hits the ground flat. Raijin swings his staff against the right kneecap, then the left, the soldier falls over and just like the fourteen before him he makes no sound with his voice, but he does try to crawl with his hands. Raijin takes a moment to watch this because this is the first target of his that he did not give a fatal injury at once. Raijin has seen much gore, but he does not think he can stand seeing something like this.

Raijin raises his weapon above his head and strikes a blunt end over the soldiers head and cracks his skull open. Lines of blood run down all around the head making the lower half of the head look like a macabre confection. The upper half hidden by the helmet probably looks like a red mess.

A broad blue streak passes by his face and scares the crap out of him. Raijin catches him self though and does not fall over. To his right where the blue streak went Raijin sees said streak pass through an enemies chest dead center then come back from where it came over the enemies head without leaving even a nick on the helmet.

Raijin had never come to fully understand Fujin's Zan attack. He knew that it was meant to miss all vital parts but the spinal cord which was supposed to be made nothing. It is supposed to leave the enemy alive –and it always did- but without immediate attention the target would bleed to death within a minute or so. Raijin still found it hard to believe that such a simple attack could do so much damage. It was so simple that if not for its effect it probably would not even earn a name.

Raijin bashes one end of his staff in the side of a nearby soldier already fighting one of his allies, the ally slashes the soldier across the stomach and moves on to another before this fallen one can begin to crawl for his ankles.

Raijin trips another nearby soldier and smashes his chest concave and leave him hoping that he will not try to crawl in that condition, surely he will not try to keep fighting with a crushed chest cavity.

Raijin runs to his right in favor of an enemy with his back turned; Fujin's weapon whizzes by the back of his head and decapitates enemy soldiers beside Raijin and catches up with him quickly, the weapon passes in front of his face quickly and does not part the skin on his nose. Once Raijin was afraid to fight around Fujin but no more; she always fought this way, she meant to trick their enemies by throwing her weapon in the direction of her allies, and she was so skilled that she could keep from hitting her allies even as they ran or fought. Sometimes Raijin wondered if Fujin's ability to throw that thing was supernatural.

Sometimes, as Winnie the Pooh might, Raijin wonders what qualifies as supernatural anymore in their world.

With heavy foot falls that his target can not hear Raijin mercilessly jams one end of his staff between the turned soldiers legs and launches him high in to the air, Raijin watches as Fujin takes her cue; Fujin literally leaps the beginnings of a one hundred and eighty degree arc, before she hits ninety degrees she throws her weapon and it passes through the enemies stomach and he is severed in two, from so high up it does not look gruesome at all to Raijin, Fujin finishes her leap and as she falls back to the ground she catches her weapon and runs off through the battle field leaving him without her temporarily.

Raijin, without remembering about the falling enemy runs out of its way and disarms enemies for his allies favor, the blood and halves of the dead soldier is loud but few care to notice the amazing kill. Raijin him self is still amazed by his foster sister although they have performed that team attacks countless times by now. Raijin reminds himself not for the first time that he must ask her how she does that. He believes that there is some amount of unique magic to her tricks.

Raijin gives that no more thought for now; he assists his allies rather than destroying his enemies on his own, just the way Seifer taught him to when he was still with them. He used to call it assistance, but Fujin and Raijin always knew that with them he meant to say team work.

_**EG**_

Fujin slides through the blood like an ice skater and swings her weapon in her hand like she is dancing with it, but her eyes are on her enemies instead of her dance partner. She severs an enemies spinal cord and cleaves open the chest of another down the middle with the same sweep of her arm. She slashes through another enemies throat without even caring to notice the enemy behind her. Her eyes are closed when she places her weapon behind her head and splits his face in two, she twists her torso very little and takes his head from him, and it lay on top of her weapon like dinner on a platter.

Fujin drops the head and leaps over her enemies heads and throws her weapon again. Fujin can not see how many enemies it passes through or how many kinds of injuries she causes with it, but judging how her random throws have brought her enemies down she believes that more than half of them will go down permanently, and the other half will be more easily taken down by her fellow SeeDs or even a lesser cadet.

If there are any cadets left that is.

Fujin was unsure of how much confidence she had in those who had not graduated. It really was tragic that they were so short of people in comparison to their enemy that they needed to resort to their trainees. Even with the help of the Espers –which she was disappointed to see very little of- they needed to use their weaker people. Fujin absently remembers a cadet she saved in the training center weeks ago before she went on her mission to take Terra to Garden, she wonders if he has survived this battle or if he hid somewhere in the Garden so he would not have to fight.

Fujin admits that, even though she does not think he is capable, she would be ashamed of him if he hid.

Fujin opens her eyes to the enemy charging directly towards her and she brings her toes to his face which sends his chin high and cracks at least one vertebrae in his neck, Fujin slashes off one arm, then the other, then with one wider sweep she takes his legs. She vaguely remembers an amusing joke about a black knight but the title of the movie escapes her for some reason.

Fujin stops after that enemy falls and finds that no more enemies are rushing her; perhaps the barricade of their fallen comrades at her feet seem too much trouble to wallow through, even for puppets with no concern for their own health or the livelihood of their comrades. She takes this moment to breathe because she finds now that she was not breathing as she fought. Fujin keeps her eyes open as she steadies her breathing; she puts one hand on her stomach to make sure that she is not inhaling only in to her chest.

As she focuses away from her breathing she notices no more enemies are attacking her, she takes it as a small blessing and she does not care why she is not getting any attention. She looks up to the enemy Garden and remembers the earlier sound of metal coming undone, she sees now that this was the chains coming undone. She also sees in the distance beyond the heads of her allies and enemies the links of those chains leaping in to the air like arachnids, like giant metal monsters…

"Like Black Widows," she finishes out loud and only for a moment she allows her self to be amazed by the sheer number of the things, she counted them as they leaped; each one from a different vantage point and each one leaping to the same spot. Fujin noticed that none of the Widows leaped away, she also noticed that none of them could fit in that same spot without creating a tower of spiders… or crabs as the more logical would like to put it.

Fujin lets her hand fall from her stomach and she thinks about this logically. If the sound happened as long ago as it did, under normal circumstances that sheer amount of metal monsters would overcome their entire fleet then proceed to tear apart her home with gnashing circular saws and sharp spikes for feet. The junior classmen and those too old to fight would not be spared nor would they be ignored.

So why were they stalled away from the battlefield? Black Widows were designed to target the nearest enemy; therefore each of them had to be closer to targets all in one space very far away from the actual battlefield; and if they were not creating a tower or leaping away from that spot at all that meant that they were either being teleported automatically or destroyed at the same speed.

Fujin can only think of one reason why this is happening, and she is both excited and saddened by the prospect of it. But just because she can think of no other possibility does not mean that she is right –years of spending her time with Seifer was what it took to realize that about her self.

Fujin readies her weapon again and sprints toward the enemy Garden and the leaping machines. She hacks at enemies as she runs and ignores the enemies as they miss her in her hurry. Out of the corner of her pink eye Fujin notices a blue blur severing enemies with brutal efficiency and she thinks to stop for a moment to see if she can confirm if she is looking at an enemy or not.

Fujin keeps running and simply hopes that she is allied with the blue blur, she realizes that it is destroying her enemies which implies that it is an ally with a speed enhancing Esper. She takes in to account also how much the enemy sorceress seems to value her soldiers; somebody with such a large fleet of Black Widows can probably afford to sacrifice a few troops to trick the enemy.

Despite how worrisome this is Fujin presses forward and slashes at enemies on her way, she forgets about the blue blur sooner than she probably should. Her path is reaching its end now so she sees a path of bodies cutting through the battle like a bruise colored scar on the plains. It gets wider and over the heads of those ahead of her Fujin sees red sparks coming from the spot where each Black Widow is leaping. Her heart tries to rise and fall at the same time and she fears it might split horizontally putting one half near her uterus and the other in her throat.

Fujin breaks through the battlefield and slides to a stop and she sees just what she anticipated. There is a black figure with a green streak leaving trails of wisps and sparks coming from its face, with a weapon of red light that carves through the enemy machines and finishes them off so they literally evaporate with negative energy. She feels foolish now for thinking she might have been wrong.

"Oh Seifer," she says piteously, then as if he heard her his head snaps in her direction, and even from the great distance between them Fujin can see in to his newly demonic eye. It burns so brightly she could look in to it with her eyes closed, she would see the inside of her eyelids tinged green with white in the middle. She can see fire and death without emotion, without pride… especially without pride… but with as much intelligence as ever. She knows that even from this distance he is recognizing her; his bright new eye tells her everything.

In the instant after the instant they make eye contact Seifer spins on the grass and leaps on to the face of a Widow still falling to the ground, his sword bites in to its back and he drags his weapon all along its back and once he reaches the hind end of it he drops and the widow opens up and falls apart like a rotten orange sliced by a slim knife, it evaporates like ice in a frying pan after it shatters upon ground impact.

She feels so sorry for her foster brother, for the only man who might have been a suitable lover for her. She knows how much his secret identity meant to him and for that she is sorry that this has happened. But at the same time she is happy that it happened because now they may stand a chance in this battle.

Fujin wonders briefly if this was part of Seifers battle plan, and if it was then she could not be more proud of him.

As she feels sorry for him she selfishly is happy for herself and for Raijin. And she is happy for Seifer himself too, now he can stop lying to himself, now she and Raijin can stop lying to themselves about him, they can stop lying to Seifer to his face because his face will not be covered up anymore.

She has missed her brother so; he has been gone for so long.

**Instructor**

Quistis was snapped back to reality by a blue blur flashing past her face and the sound of metal striking metal with an amusing 'tink' sound. Quistis is not amused right now. She turns around and brings her weapon down to see an upper portion of the helmet slide off of the head and hit the ground, the portion of the head also severed does not fall out and falls flat side down. Quistis has to stop the body from falling against her by blocking it with her hand and pushing it aside. At least three different kinds of fluid leak out of the clean cut on top of his head.

Joselyn's hair and coat tails are still falling against her body when Quistis looks at her, Joselyn is giving Quistis just the sort of stare that she herself would give Joselyn during class when she found the girl was not paying any attention to her. She has just enough time to appreciate the irony before Joselyn fulfills it.

"Pay attention instructor," Joselyn says bitingly and she is gone as a blur again before Quistis can come back with her own biting remark -or a thank you.

Annoyingly, Quistis does not pay attention, and she wants to tell Joselyn why because she really does have a good reason. Quistis knows she will return to the battle soon but first she needs to take in what she saw not two minutes ago.

Quistis was shocked to see her lover's skin torn in half to see somebody else's face underneath, she was amazed to see that Seifer Almasy was that other face. But she was more surprised when she saw Seifer Almasy… she did not see a traitor. She knew and believed even after the mask came off that he was still her ally and so she helped him.

She was not surprised that once he became Seifer Almasy again that he became extremely reckless and seemed to completely forget about his allies and charged to fight on his own. She was going to miss that about Savior. That understanding of the need for allies.

Quistis feels something large and slimy move inside her heart when she thinks of Savior in the past tense for the first time. And after that for the first time she feels silly for thinking of Seifer and Savior as two different people.

Quistis thinks about the crosses he used to wear on his arms and the same one that he now holds in his hand, she thinks about the name he chose to change his identity.

"Heh," she laughs with genuine and inappropriate mirth. "I just got it," she says as if the name Savior used to be a joke. Maybe it is just a joke now, she thinks.

She does not want to think about their romance, and with this feeling she wonders if she will want to think about it ever again.

Quistis takes a deep breath and brings herself back to the present and she's grateful the enemies seem less interested in her.

_He used to be Savior,_ she thinks, _then he was Seifer… but what is he now?_

The real question she needed answered was if he had actually transformed or if he was just covered up. Is that blackness the skin of evil containing a normal human being? Is his weapon the energy of a Death spell or is it worse? Does that blackness protect him from the negative energy in his hand if, he is in fact, covered up?

And how differently does he see things through fire?

Quistis slashes opens stomachs with swift jerking motions when she registers that enemies are coming to her, but these enemies seem unimportant now. She wants to join the changed Seifer against the Black Widows but part of her tells her she should not make herself a target too. She scans her mind quickly and finds only a few Aura spells and she is not sure if she would need any of them after assisting Seifer with the Widows. The sorceress, after all, survived Seifers rage.

She knows and admits to herself that he probably needs no help. She can see him fighting the Widows down the path he created even as it closes again from the motion of the battle.

Quistis is seeing far too little action; she is noticing her allies fighting enemies more than she is noticing enemies coming after her. _I should go to him_, she thinks. _I shouldn't go to him, _she thinks afterward. No, she had already established that she should not join him against the Black Widows. She had seen that he was surviving well without her help. She needed to tell herself the truth.

_I need to see him,_ she thinks.

Quistis cracks her whip and severs an enemy's knees at the pull back. Determination scrunches her forehead into a scowl and she runs forward. She counts the Black Widows leaping in the distance and vanishing when they reach that one spot. She knows that this is where Seifer is standing. She would know this is where he stands even if she had not followed his path when she watched him charge for that machine onslaught.

Quistis has been keeping a tally of the Black Widows that she saw pouncing to that spot. Unfortunately she did not start keeping the tally until after Seifer begin fending the metallic monsters off. Ever since she began watching him fight Seifer has dispatched forty eight Black Widows.

It has been five minutes since his transformation.

Quistis ignores her enemies. Enough Knights have been killed now that the remaining ones are focused on dealing with the lesser SeeDs and cadets which they are already engaged against. Their apparent enhancement made minutes ago has made little difference in the battle. As Quistis sprints for Seifer she sees far fewer Knights then her own troops and she is both astounded and delighted to see this. She tries to ignore the fact that this may make little difference in the end when the sorceress herself will join the battle.

A tangled net of her own hair covers Quistis's face and she struggles to pull it away. It covers her face again and this time she trips on part of one of her former enemies. She trips and struggles to stay on her feet but she falls face first in the blood and grass.

Without looking behind her to notice that she tripped on a severed head torn roughly in two; and without spending a moment to pity herself or to spit some of the earth out of her mouth she pushes herself back to her feet and runs forward. She is no more mindful of obstacles than she was before.

She hits a reservoir of bodies both ally and enemy on the edge of the battlefield, most of them are above the age of twenty seven although Quistis will not know that. And there he is, unrecognizable and merciless to his lifeless enemies, the notion that he is no longer alive flits by her mind quickly but it also sends a sliver of metal into her belly so she forces it away quickly.

Quistis watches the red arc of his sword bite in to the non face of one Widow and the red energy spreads from that cutting point to quickly consume the rest of the machine. It appears to be falling into a red portal that sprouts from its own body and so it does not even hit the ground after being destroyed. There is nothing left to fall.

"QUISTIS!" she snaps her head to the side and sees Fujin giving her the sort of look she would give her if Fujin was the superior between them. Quistis thinks that Fujin wants to scorn her for neglecting the battle when she is one of the more powerful soldiers; but with the relationship that she has with Seifer she wants to think that Fujin as giving her that look for another… reason…

…Fujin knew…

It hit her like a gust in her guts. Fujin knew, so that horrible face she was making was not necessarily scorn. Perhaps it was mutual grief, Quistis misses Savior, and Fujin is probably concerned about what will happen to Seifer now that his shell has been broken.

Quistis suddenly feels a certain kind of respect for Fujin. Although Quistis does not quite think they are thinking of the same man, but she will. Fujin does not break her gaze to look back to Seifer like Quistis might have expected. Perhaps she just wants an excuse to glance back to Seifer.

Quistis runs in Fujin's direction and neither woman breaks eye contact. Fujin does not move; her gaze makes Quistis feel uneasy like Fujin is blaming her for something, she may never bother to inquire with Fujin if anything was wrong. Quistis slides to a stop in front of Fujin who has not budged.

Quistis thinks that she would have spoken first but Fujin surprises her with that imposing voice of hers.

"BATTLE," Fujin jerks her head back and rolls her eyes in the same direction. "COME," she said as if to invite Quistis away from their mutual feelings for the demonized man. Quistis wanted to assure Fujin that he would be fine and that they should do just what Fujin was already suggesting. Now saying that seemed rather pointless but at the same time her silence felt embarrassing.

Quistis resorts to nodding and without exchanging anything beyond that the two women leave Seifer behind to save everybody's hide just as he had been doing for the past two years. She had seen him and confirmed something to the effect of his livelihood and that was what she needed for the time being. She would hopefully be able to speak with him later.

Quistis wonders if they are still lovers now, but she stops thinking about that when the sounds of battle remind of her of reality. She prepares her whip with one hand and low level Thunder magics with her other hand. Fujin presses her back against Quistis; they are joined now in battle as allies, and after this they will perhaps be joined by Seifer as sisters.

Black wings beat overhead on the other side of the battlefield. If Quistis were aware of them there she would regret being so far away from her former students. Sometimes she would damn her secret maternal impulses.

**The Victory**

The ambience of the battlefield transforms completely when more than half of the soldiers fall. It's not so loud now that there are fewer soldiers on both sides. There are still screams and kiais and the sounds of spells sizzling and steel clashing in sparks and broken pieces. I understand I should sense the same gravity now but with so many fallen I cannot help but feel more at ease, bored even.

I seldom need to watch my back now and I think it would be hardly different even without Cody and Joselyn at my side –although Joselyn has not exactly been spending her time in one place, rather than at my side she has been all around me even more so than my enemies. For a long time now Cody and I have been comfortably facing in opposite directions watching our own sides of the battlefield. Joselyn has been hacking away all around us to keep the numbers surrounding us down.

A while ago Joselyn even had the time to leave us for a few minutes to help Quistis which was a surprise to me. I didn't even realize she was so vulnerable and on top of that I didn't even need to urge Joselyn to help her. I think Joselyn went to help her because she wanted to, or at least because she considered it a duty either moral, military, or just a favor to me. Maybe a gift.

Actually, Joselyn has seldom saved us due to the dramatic diminishing battlefield. There will be many funerals when this is all over -that is if the wrath of the sorceress is not exacted so nobody here could attend. I wonder what would happen then. Would those with loved ones simply come here and pay tribute without moving anybody at all? Or would the Sorceress enslave everybody just to prevent such a grand tribute of respect?

I suppose if that were the way things happened it would be the only way I could have at least one whole family to see my funeral. Unless of course if Joselyn and I live to be a hundred and we have so many grand children that my funeral could be enormous. But I have trouble expecting that. And Joselyn and I are far from a stage to even think about reproducing. Sex for pleasure is the only kind on our agenda for the time being.

I wonder what Joselyn would think about me thinking about this. I wonder if she would urge me to pay attention to my surroundings. I pull one crowbar out of someone's stomach as I think about this. I unravel the intestines from the hooks; I have become so good at doing that today that I no longer need to look as I do it.

I wonder if my enemy's are infuriated -beneath their mistress's corruption- that I am not really paying them any attention as I dispatch them. More than that I wonder if there is any independent consciousness left in them, or are they just meat puppets for Cornucopia Ostentat now?

This is not to say that I feel anything for them, they're just prey after all. But something in me itches to know this sort of thing; I suppose it's because I know that Cornucopia wants me. I wonder how I might have ended up if I had not resisted Ostentat back at the mission.

Ultimately I am wondering what my life would be like without Joselyn.

I have been reflecting on that ever since that afternoon I woke up with her body firmly clutching me. I wonder what would have happened to me if not for her. And I can't help but think that I would be hardly different from these knights I've been destroying today. Dressed the same way; given a weapon I'd never use, made a carbon copy of every other male knight in her army. I would have been no different from them besides appearance and even then she would put a mask on my face.

I suppose if I had submitted to her I would have done it because I would not be treated like I was different. But now I have a beautiful woman sleeping with me because I am different. I could have had a mistress who would possibly sleep with me more than once; but after my initiation it would be on a lark. And my reputation is less of a fucker and more of a killer so she would probably have me killing.

I wonder if I would have killed Cody or Quistis.

I wonder if I would have been taken over by this demon in my head…

… That's why she wants me…

But if that's true then how does she know about it? I didn't even know that woman until a little while ago. How would she know about this dangerous untapped power in me unless… unless…

"Unless if she put it in me."

"What?" Cody screams unnecessarily over the dull sound of a dying war. He actually stops fighting for a moment I realize now that I'm not fighting either. I block an oncoming sword and pull the knights hips apart, leave him to lay there with a hole in him. I wonder briefly if Cody watched that, and if so, if he flinched.

"Nothing, I'll tell you later!" Cody nods briefly behind me and goes back to fending the enemy's off. He fights more diligently than I do for the time being.

Joselyn flashes in front of me and leaves a trail of transparent droplets where she moves like a windshield wiper leaving water dripping down to the hood. She's crying, I have never seen her do that before. At least I think she's crying, the only other fluid she could possibly be dripping with is blood and that's not blood. I wonder if she saw a friend of hers die or dead. It would be somebody who I have not met, she hasn't introduced me to any of her other friends.

I am glad this hasn't slowed her down, assuming I'm right.

I wonder what it's like to have somebody die on you. I hope I never have to know, but then, I don't want those I leave behind to miss me. I know that to die before all of my loved ones I would have to die rather soon –despite the fact that I only have three friends, assuming Joselyn counts as a friend as my lover; I am sure that she does… in fact she'd would probably mock me for not assuming that automatically.

When this is all over I won't to seduce her again –I did that twice earlier today, once before the shower and once during our third shower- if she is grieving. I have always thought –even during my virginity- that an orgasm and grief would mix in the belly like cake batter and rancid milk chunks. It might become a disgusting paste so heavy it would be impossible to regurgitate. Perhaps I'll just rub her shoulders and her feet instead.

I laugh when it occurs to me it could have been drool and how funny that would be if I asked her if she were crying after all of that. I can imagine the look on her face if drool were the case; I can imagine her trying not to tell me without lying to me. I can imagine her genuinely missing a friend and scrunching her face in a way that I have never actually seen before. That particular image is fuzzy since I have no point of reference for it.

I will see one or two –possibly even both somehow- of these faces on her. I block an oncoming sword and twirl it in my enemy's hand then I take his throat and kick him away from me, Joselyn passes us and severs his knees.

She has been making a habit of doing this ever since we discovered they don't stop fighting after they fall. So we make a habit of incapacitating them completely before we move onto others. This is perhaps the main reason we have managed our own injuries so well.

I notice the soldier whose hips I ripped in twain has a slashed throat now too.

Joselyn leaves another trail of droplets behind as she passes by this knight and the possible tears hit the ground at the same time the body hits the ground. I notice the tears more than I do the body.

Funny how I am more concerned with my lovers feelings than I am with the lives of anybody else. I wonder what my comrades would think about that. I wonder if they would expect me to care about what they would think about that.

I wonder if Joselyn cares about what they would think.

Joselyn slides to a stop and meets with Cody's and my back so we face three different angles. I suppose the enemy's numbers have thinned enough that she no longer needs to defend us thusly. Not that she ever needed to defend me to begin with. I'm sure she would have defended me because it is her military duty to defend her comrades. But I think she would be defending for sake of romance, I understand all of that. But on a practical level I need no help on the battlefield at all and right now I am wondering if she ever forgets that. Maybe because of her personal duties of protection that practical definition does not matter to her anymore.

"Are you all right?" I say loudly.

"No," she sounds angry with the kind of frustration that comes from grief; she is trying to cover up her sorrow by being angry. Sometimes, because of this sort of thing, I wonder if my love has any amount of testosterone in her -although I will never say that out loud.

"Do you need to take a breather? Cody and I can fend them off without you for a while if you need that." Cody does not protest but I am sure he heard me.

I want to imagine Joselyn laughing a little bit but I'm not sure if she can laugh while grieving because I'm not so familiar with grief. "That's really sweet Grave but none of us are going to stop fighting until the fight is over." She almost breaks up while she says this, her voice is as steady as a unicycle traveling across a thin wire. She makes it to the other end but she wavers very much.

I remove the head of one enemy swiftly and fling it to the head of another which disorients her for a moment. Cody takes his opportunity to gore her belly which leave very few enemy's around us.

I take this moment to kiss Joselyn on the cheek; this actually does make her smile a little bit. "I'm going to run into the fray," I say and she does not quiver, she has confidence in me. "I'll be back in a minute." She turns away from the enemy's and pecks my nose.

"Go for it, I'll see you soon." She appreciates our understating and I love that. Who says violence can't be funny? They are all fools says I.

I rush into the nearest fray I can find and I swing away first to the one enemy who notices me. I have noticed throughout this battle I've had to take time away from Cody and Joselyn to go alone. For some reason they've mostly stayed away from me. I know I could easily handle three at once but I have seldom had two oppose me at one time. I want to think the sorceress is trying to keep me alive but it seems more likely that she's insulting me.

Perhaps she underestimates me. She clearly doesn't understand me at all so that's probably the situation. That I can tolerate.

_**EG**_

Grave swings his arms up on either side of him as quickly as a mouse trap going off. The hooks dig into the throats of two knights of either gender; he pulls out and with equally swift motions he strikes their sternums, their bellies, their knees and he punches either of their heads with the blunt end of his weapons. They're not suitably incapacitated and he knows this but he can still leave them alone for a while.

Grave runs to two knights who have caught sight of him, he grins as broadly as he can at them thinking his enemies may have an idea of his reputation. He disarms them –literally- and thrusts his crowbars into their chests caving in their rib cages. They live, and will stay that way for a while but even with their relentless devotion –or whatever emotion they invest in the mistress- could not lift themselves back to their feet after that.

With maneuvering similar to Fujin's Grave takes one knee each of two other knights not facing him and he slides around taking one other knee, spinning wildly he takes the other knee of the still falling knight.

Grave still doesn't know quite what to think of this battle so quiet. It's so different to fight enemy's who don't scream. Instead of their screams and their panting he has had to detect them by sight and the sound of their foot steps. Even the male enemy's don't seem to have any smell. Not one of them has made physical contact with him so he will not judge their locations by that.

Grave kicks backwards into a one soldier putting a foot-shaped internal injury in the knight's stomach. As soon as Grave plants his feet one the ground the knight hurls a gelatinous gob of blood and keels over. Grave latches one crowbar under the left side of the rib cage and pulls it off like he is peeling dead skin from healed flesh. Just as that healed flesh might be the meat he opens up is pink but it is quickly overcome by blood and a lung hangs out like a dislodged eye from its socket by a tendril of flesh.

Just by fighting today Grave has literally done what he had expected to do. He has mastered melee combat against every Galbadian soldier in the world who fights with a saber. He remembers always joking about it with Cody and recently Joselyn that every one of these soldiers fought just the same way. They didn't realize the accuracy of their humor.

They assumed that it would be the same with these soldiers as it was at the Gardens. Even with the SeeDs those who fought with identical weapons did not fight quite the same way. It was true that with each individual kind of weapon they were instructed the same way but they were also encouraged to invent their own methods and theories for that weapon. You should be able to genuinely fool your teacher.

Galbadian soldiers were pathetic, simply put. If they didn't know any better –knowing they were in fact individual people- they would say that Galbadian soldiers were simply clones or another kind of carbon copy that came from the original Galbadian soldier. Perhaps that original would be the son of an old president or something stupid like that.

Each enemy killed is just practice for the next one. And at this point Grave has been practicing all day long. Cody and Joselyn, like Grave, have literally stopped receiving wounds from the enemy forces, on top of the enemy's becoming easier to kill over time they have also thinned out dramatically. If every other cadet and SeeD were somehow defeated by these weak knights then Cody Grave and Joselyn would eventually be the last living ones standing on this battlefield for sure.

Grave hooks one crowbar underneath the sternum of another soldier and he pulls it up so fiercely that he does not even rip off the plate of his rib cage cleanly. His hooks simply tear through it and leave two long bloody marks in the middle of his face. The helmet comes off and falls behind him.

The crowbars spin swiftly from their leather tassels from his wrists and takes bits of flesh and blue cloth with them; cloth thick and ideally fire proof which is not supposed to tear so easily even from an actual weapon. But even without his strength enhanced because of Salamander, Grave has more strength than any person –normal or otherwise- really should be. The cloth tears like toilet paper run through talons. The bellies beneath them rips open like rotten fruit that has rotted into a sack of fluid.

Grave parries the knight's weapons and receives a number of scratches on his crowbars that shine very dully like a dark crystal. He will not think very much of it, he never does. His weapons are always scratched like the back of a villager whose bloodletting had been supervised by a drunken shaman. When this is all over he will perhaps rub them both down with some black polish. But probably not.

He is essentially having fun at this point. The crowbars randomly take hands and the lower halves of legs. Bellies are torn open and chest cavities are torn asunder from many different angles so that Grave can see the working organs beneath through differently shaped frames. He gets to see them operate only briefly before the bodies fall down and those organs are dirtied by mud and the blood of their comrades.

Where Grave stands now there is no DNA of his own allies to be found.

Grave hears a sound like wings flapping over head but he decides that it is his imagination and so he pays it no mind. He pretends that the body parts of his enemies are flapping and flying away from him; retreating after death and dismemberment somehow.

Grave stops spinning his weapons when he stops feeling enemies coming in contact with them. He opens his eyes without realizing that he closed them and he laughs when he realizes that. A pleasant cloud of arrogance fills in his belly like satisfying food. There are no more enemies around he is pleased to see. But he's not so pleased after he counts the heads and sees less then he remembers seeing here when he came.

"Some of them ran away," he says indignantly, as if he were robbed of something he liked like a treat. It sounds almost like he is faking it though because he actually knew this would happen. It has happened every other time he breaks away from Cody and Joselyn. But then the fighting is too easy with his allies also. It's hard to say which he prefers since you can't find a decent fight anywhere on the battlefield. He reflects that it was rather dumb of him to hope they would not run away from him this time.

_**EG**_

Well fuck, it happened again. I swear if I had a head for every one that runs I wouldn't be in this situation.

Neither Cody nor Joselyn think that joke is funny; I think that's unfair, it's pretty clever in my opinion. But I suppose every line can't be a crowd pleaser, especially if your crowd is just two people… and if those two people enjoy making fun of you anyway.

"Damn it," this is going to bug me. I can't decide if this sorceress thinks very little of me or if she's so stupid she fears for my life against her brittle soldiers. On another note we know she doesn't value their lives at all so she can't possibly be trying to save her numbers. In my opinion she was expecting to be the only living thing on this battlefield in the end. With perhaps an exception like me -or rather, what I have in me.

"Come on Ostentat what are you waiting for?" I don't know if she can hear me but I'm in one of those moods to just speak my mind even if she isn't here to hear me. Like when you find yourself asking your spouse a question when they're not even in the house at the time…

Something in my stomach quivers uncomfortably without positive or negative feeling upon connecting the notion of Cornucopia with the notion of a spouse. "The battle is almost over anyway, unless if theatrics really gets you off then you should probably just come for me now."

Come after me when my friends are not around to try and get in your all powerful bitch way.

I hear that sound like flapping again. I look to my left and see nothing and when I look to my right I find the same thing. Just catastrophe and lots of bodies; most of which are probably enemies but it's kind of hard to tell when the cadet uniforms are the same shade of blue as the Galbadian soldiers. I'm amazed that any of those allies of mine decided to fight what could be their last battle in polyester. Why are those things made out of polyester anyway? It isn't even a breathing material for fucks sake.

I feel something heavy hit my head like thick putty. It feels very strange but I recover quickly and wipe whatever it is off of my head. It's dry. I open my palm and see something I don't at once identify but after a moment I decide its raw meat. It's possibly a piece of an organ.

This seems very strange at first but then I remember this is a battlefield; then I consider that I'm probably not the only person here who recklessly throws his enemy's body parts around without considering where it might land. Perhaps somebody tore out a chunk and simply flung it this way and it happened to land on my head?

But it would have to be wet and this hunk of flesh is like putty, putty with a strong core that doesn't come apart so easily. We have discovered that although they're not in control of their own bodies -and their minds have possibly been corrupted the same way- but they are very much alive. They are wet and stringy and pulsing like they are alive: though the lack of screaming makes them seem like they never were animate to begin with.

I drop the piece of meat and decide I should think no more of it. It seems extremely unimportant since there are still more knights to be dispatched. I arm myself again and turn my heel to another vulnerable looking group of enemies…

…And I feel a familiar ectoplasmic sensation roll over my body from head to toe like mist projected downward, unrolling like a think blanket. I hear someone speaking clearly as though through a megaphone into my soul. I hear her voice again as clearly as I would if there were no other sounds here, if I were the only one to hear her. I know it is her, I already know what message she breathes next.

"Be mine," her voice says inviting, enticing, but this time something is missing. The soul in her voice is gone, it's even emptier an invitation than before. She's still expecting me to willingly become her puppet.

"I told you there's somebody else," I say aloud on purpose, I don't feel like playing her mind games right now. "You'd best find some other teenager with a demon in his head if you want a new toy of destruction."

I feel the same sensation of mist rolling down my body and this too seems less enticing than before… it wasn't even enticing to begin with come to think of it. I didn't realize until now the spell this woman had over me. I feel more lucid with her than ever before. What did she lose? She had to have lost it in the last few hours or so as it has been a while since she last communicated with me this way.

The message in this vapor says another few words and stops. "You are the only one for me." I laugh at that. And I laugh out loud of course which has become my habit just now for some reason, perhaps the minor spell she had over me before had me communicating with her in her own way.

It's amazing to speak with her like this for the first time. I see how insignificant she really is. There is nothing left in her that I need to fight on a mental level. And to think that I couldn't appreciate all of that until it was all over.

I respond aloud with my new found freedom against her. "You mean I'm the only one _left_?" I feel her respond unhappily. She must be scanning all of her former knights at my feet and at the feet of my allies. "I'm afraid this battle alone is enough to make me uninterested Ostentat. I dare say that your influence is a weakening agent. All of your knights are either dead or will be dead in the next couple of minutes. And somebody on our side seems to be dealing with whatever those chains were because nothing else has showed up. Looks to me like you're screwed, figuratively that is."

I expect a mist again but this time lightning rolls from the sky and down my skull and in to my feet. I wobble from side to side for a moment and my eyes roll around in my head like they have come loose. My vision changes so much that I mostly see blackness but slivers of reality as well moving like a single crystal in a kaleidoscope. I blink my eyes open and find that I am lying on my side on the ground.

Luckily she only hit me with a level one thunder spell which is not quite enough to kill even a normal person much less a junctioned SeeD. We mostly use it to stun however the SeeDs most skilled with magic allegedly have their way of turning it into a fatal attack.

I push myself up without using my legs -although I can still feel them, be walking again momentarily. I feel a rumbling of energy forcing its way up my esophagus and before I suppress it I cough hard. Gobs and streaks of tiny white lightning come out and splash on the ground like jagged jumping drops of water. I heave again but nothing comes out but a few sparks. I find the strength after that to stand up and I look straight ahead at my descending enemy, who, by the looks of things, will not be making her full landing.

This must be why she has lost her appeal; the one interesting part of her body is no longer available. Heh, funny, a woman has taught me there is a certain amount of pleasure in male chauvinism: go figure.

The upper half of Cornucopia Ostentat hovers over the ground at eye level. Her wings seem to have more mass than her body, the size of a great hang-glider. Her arms are folded behind her back; another piece of dead meat falls out of her and lands heavily on the ground as if it was not imbued with any magic anymore.

She looks at me invitingly but I can't imagine how she can invite me with no place to escort me too. It's as if she expects me to just drop my pants and stick my cock in whatever non-descript wet passage I can find on her. And on that note I doubt there's any wetness left in her if she's dropping dry chunks like that.

Seeing that smile on that body which –though fascinating in its own right- has nothing to offer me; I can't control myself so I snort and break into laughter right in front of her. I can feel smoke wafting from the top of my head from the lightning she struck me with before.

She pushes her smile down and for a moment the lower half of her face looks much older than sixteen. She recovers from it a bit but I don't think it makes any difference really; she wants to stay pretty I am sure but without her pussy I don't think it matters anymore how pretty she is. The only interest people had in her was her sex and her sex was the only thing that she has flaunted.

Cornucopia begins floating my way. I don't move away from her or towards her either. I simply recover from my laughter and watch her come to me without adjusting my grin. It's hard to not laugh again, she's still exuding sexual confidence as much as the smell of clammy organs.

"So what is it that honors me with your presence oh cuntless wonder?" She doesn't look remotely amused by that but I can't tell if she was trying to read my mind before I said it and I can't really tell how much it bothered her. I'll just keep grinning and assume I struck another cord in her. It's much more fun that way anyway.

To my surprise she doesn't speak again, rather she licks her lips with a fat wet tongue as pink as bubblegum or a really pretentious wedding cake. I grasp her meaning but instead of becoming serious or delirious with her at all a snort again and giggle that sound that has frightened Joselyn awake before. Cornucopia is not affected that way but she still seems un-amused that I mock her thusly: and the icing on the cake is that I don't even need to try because she draws my mockery out of me as quickly as she once must have seduced.

"A blow job is indeed tempting Ostentat but your mouth is already dirty from other men." Truth be told that would not bother me even if it were true for Joselyn but I can't let Ostentat know that. She makes no face at me and she sends me no pulses of aggravation. She only pulls her tongue back inside her mouth and puckers her lips for a second to a suck the saliva on them back into her mouth. She tries to be attractive about it but I think she's just now realizing she's lost her enticement.

She must have thought that magic was all it took to seduce and take control of others. She thought that magic was her only tool and the body was incidental. But humans are not magic; we are strictly living and tangible matter. And so the same kind of tangible matter –apparently living is unnecessary in this respect- to work the magic she has been using.

Her weakness is underestimating her enemy. Her other weakness is underestimating humans in general. And despite her powers this body she is using is human. She never valued the thing that her servants wanted in the first place.

I wonder if she will lose her power over them without her lower half. Would she really care about that at this point?

"What are you trying to do Cornucopia?" Her face is the same and I'm not sure if she's even listening to me. "You clearly don't care about the body you're in and you definitely don't care about the lives of your knights. You don't care about me, so what exactly are you after?" her face is the same, she is studying my face… no, not my face.

She looks at my eyes, at my right eye, the one with the symbol our headmaster wore, the one that is on those watches nobody ever uses. I must not be hiding my shock well because she's actually looking at me again, and she shows me the most human smile I will ever see on that pretty young face.

"I want my husband back," she whispers sharply, enunciating perfection.

Then she squishes me in a bear hug, flaps her great wings once and we are high in the air. The pressure of the air is enough to make my hair feel like oil flattened against my scalp. Cold, thin oil, like the cheap non-virgin olive variety.

She flaps her wings with much less effort than it really would take to ascend this quickly. I would like to think that her wingspan is all it is but her wings are flapping much slower than we are ascending. I wonder how much of this flight is magic. Does she even need wings to fly like this?

One might think I would try to struggle and get out of her grip but I'm making it a point to think coherently no matter what situation the enemy throws me in to. I wanted to push my body away from her at first but she went so high so fast that I wasn't sure that I would be able to withstand the impact. True, it does seem even more stupid to let her fly my higher but either way things look bad. The lesser of two evils does not seem lesser enough to be worth it.

Cornucopia is not crushing me which is what surprises me. She can't be holding me lovingly either because she has no love or because I am simply not the one who she does love… I am not quite sure what to think about that though, she does not seem like one who would be married in the first place.

She rests her head on my shoulder and we ascend even more. Her hair smells distinctly like a flower the name of which I don't remember. I will not try to escape for that would certainly mean my death. The longer I live the longer my chance of survival is. It looks rather hopeless but there has to be a way for me to live.

Cornucopia squeezes my back unnecessarily, unnecessarily as in almost lovingly.

Husband? She must be kidding. I may have lost most of my memory from before the age of fourteen but I'm positive that I was not married to anybody before then and certainly not a rich girl a year younger than me. I would have to be rich myself and there's no way I would have ended up at any Garden if I were rich on the level required for marrying a political princess like Ostentat.

She's nuts, that's all there is to it.

Cornucopia moves her face to my ear and whispers with her lips brushing against the rim of my ear. "I'm gonna get you out baby, just wait a little longer." She does not move her face from my ear.

I prepare myself to say some knee jerk reply like, 'I'm not your husband' or something more creative in my seemingly useless effort to piss her off. But then I feel a rumble inside my skull and my eyelids open completely -and possibly permanently. It doesn't feel like an Esper. Salamander has become comfortable in me after about three years and even Lich is getting used to me already which also surprises me.

But this does not feel like an Esper, it sounds like a rampaging animal with no noticeable intelligence. It feels like insanity in an ectoplasmic cage with a lock made of the two spirits who are actually welcome in my head.

It feels like long teeth; great big eyes, a long powerful tail, black veins that can tear apart metal and a belly that grumbles for children with soon doomed loved ones.

She does want the demon, I was right. But the reason that I thought was wrong.

She loves this thing.

She _is_ insane.

I am suddenly feeling that ever oh logical urge to push myself away from this woman now that I know that death would be much kinder than what she wants from me. She takes the moment to finally look at my face again and she finally smiles at me. She clearly doesn't need to make contact with my mind to know what I am thinking now. She knows I just figured it out; she knows I'm finally regretting something that she is going to do to me because this time I have no choice in the matter.

Hyne, what a bitch; if only she were not threatening me and the world so much I would feel more comfortable being sarcastic.

She spares one arm and suspends me with the other just as well without it. And just like Lich did to me she plunges her hand inside my chest but this time it hurts. Cornucopia is not nearly as gentle as Lich was. And rather than feeling this sensation like ectoplasm it really feels like she has her hand physically inside my chest; though just like with Lich I don't feel any tearing.

Something that is not her arm snakes up my esophagus and spears into my brain. For a small mercy the pain doesn't explore my brain but instead finds the one spot it wants and stops there. It's the spot in my mind where all three of the alien spirits are residing in me. I can tell and I can feel them reacting to this magic that the sorceress is stabbing me with. I do not know what they are doing –partially because of the pain- but I know that all of them are active and that none of them are moving from that one spot.

The demon wants the sorceress; that's what the difference is. Salamander and Lich are trying to control the demon and for the first time I am noticing them have trouble. And the demon is trying to get out and for the first time I know how going about transforming through me happens, and I know why he's trying to get out.

He really wants her. He is not just enticed by her loins. Why is that? It can't be love can it?

Husband.

So she really does care about somebody… something… so there must be something human left in her.

So she has a soft spot we can exploit.

The demon expands in my body like a marshmallow in the microwave. He fills my body as if my skin were a hollow shell and the demon takes on shape inside my body. Pressing against the inside of me I feel my teeth change, and the tip of my tailbone beginning to change into a full-fledged tail. The black veins swell up and it feels the way scabs must feel the way they manifested beneath the skin. His eyes grow inside mine and for the first time it feels like my eyes may split open. It doesn't hurt to change this time, the pain of the magic she uses in my chest is dulling just enough so I can focus on other things better.

My lips become the grin and my teeth change shape making the sound of polished stones grinding together dryly. She kisses a section of the mouth with the same kind of passion Joselyn gives me. I feel like the ultimate third wheel now, being kissed because she can't wait for the lips that she really hungers for, just one layer of skin behind mine.

It seems somehow inappropriate to have the most awkward moment of my life be slipped into what is probably the most shocking moment of my life as well…

…assuming of course Joselyn has not managed to claim both of those moments already… in fact now that I am thinking about it I must be rather stupid to assume that anybody but her could claim either of those moments of my life. Nevermind.

Cornucopia takes her lips away from me and looks very unsatisfied; like she had just licked a lollipop without taking the wrapper off first. Her eyes alone tell me that she is disgusted with me. Instead of seeing her lover she has to look at this hybrid of me and her appalling beloved.

I'm compelled to understand my enemy more but I simply can't imagine being in this woman's place.

"That's it baby just come out, I've unlocked this little thief's power and now you can come out for me." Thief? What on Gaia-

"_Lich hold him for me I will try to intercept him!"_ what was that? I've never heard that voice before.

"_If I must, but remember that you know better than anybody what happens when I win a bet._" This voice is muttered rather than shouted and sounds precisely like Lich; she sounds somewhat annoyed, her tone also suggests she has gone through this sort of thing a million times before.

Then that other voice has to be-

"_And I also know better than anybody else what it is like when you lose a bet!"_ He sounds less urgent now. He almost sounds like he's having fun -which pisses me off just a bit considering my situation.

I feel Lich being even more active in me but it is making little difference. The demon is changing my shape gradually –although it's not quite as fast as blood would have- I'm changing but she is actually sustaining my actual shape. Salamander stops that endeavor completely and leaves his post to the right of where the demon was before. He travels but it feels like he's growing just the same way the demon has. Salamander is shapeless inside me it seems, and he covers the demon beneath my skin. A different layer of my skin made of fire and a separate intelligence.

The demon gets frustrated and tries even harder to change me. Cornucopia is not even trying to hide her shock and her anger. Apparently whatever Salamander was trying to do is working, thank goodness. If only I had the breath in my lungs for another snide remark.

Salamander finishes coming between my skin and the demon and my body retracts to its normal shape without causing me more pain. After that Salamander takes up even more space and _pushes_ the demon back into its compressed spot beside Lich. Lich clutches the demon harder, now gaining the upper hand.

Meanwhile Salamander continues taking up space beneath my skin like I were hollow and as that happens the anger on Cornucopia's face cringes and swells at the same rate.

Once he finishes what the demon could not I feel something change. Once he finishes filling this supposedly imaginary cavity in me I feel something hot and pleasant pouring through a thin membrane. It's like the skin created from boiling pudding. I feel it in the spot where my center chakra would be and it spreads creating an image in my minds eye of white overtaking light orange.

I see an orange light develop in my vision but it doesn't scare me –though it does surprise me- because I know it's coming from Salamander, because I know that it is part of me. It feels warm and comfortable like hot water curing cold skin. Perhaps Salamander always feels this way when he is summoned?

The feeling spreads all over my skin and I see a flare of magic fire come from my face igniting all over my body. Cornucopia screams but refuses to let go, the body she is in burns away very quickly like wax held against a large flame. Her body is dissolving in the shape of my body as she clutches me. She screams, "No, no, no!" until her lungs burn and then there is some soundlessness in her throat suggesting reverberating misery.

Eventually so much of her body burns that I slip out of her grasp because her grasp is part of what burned away; I fall and leave a trail of magic fire in my place. Cornucopia's remaining parts fall too and burn away in that fire that falls after me. I don't get to see her face as it finishes burning, and soon there is nothing of her left. Just the falling fire.

I can't help but think this was not the last of her. I don't think she's actually gone. It's as if her intelligence and ectoplasm has escaped.

As I fall I relax, perhaps it's an illusion created by my Espers. They may be creating a hammock of comfort under my back so the falling doesn't seem so frightening.

I notice now what this fire is. It's my skin. I can feel the sensation of pleasant warmth but it is not on my skin, it is on my muscles and my bones, it is against my organs and it is blending with my soul without feeling permanent or dirty.

It feels like my transformation with the demon but it is welcome. It doesn't cause me any pain. Perhaps because this is Salamander and Salamander is good to me, perhaps that demon was hurting me because he hates me. That never occurred to me until now.

I can't feel the wind against my fire.

"_Grave,_" Salamander again, I don't know how to respond; perhaps I just have to think since he's inside my head?

"_That will do Grave, yes,_" Oh, good.

"_Listen to me Grave. I want you to summon me, can you do that?_"

Well, yes, but what will happen? Could something go wrong if we do it now since you are doing this? What are you doing for that matter!

"_Just trust me Grave. Summon me and the war will be won. I promise you._"

The war will be won? I have trouble believing you.

"_Trust me,"_ he will say nothing more of it. I persist but he is simply waiting the way a parent might watch and wait for their child to do a chore. Although he's not so impatient.

I am beginning to feel that sensation of being closer to the ground. It is like passing through a barrier containing more gravity and with that a heavier urgency to obey Salamander.

"Salamander!" I hear myself shout but it doesn't quite sound like my voice. Perhaps my vocal chords are puppets to somebody, or maybe, it's a reflex I was not aware I had.

The fire that was falling speeds up instantly and plunges into my body like missing parts coming back to their origin. Every wisp of the fire stops blazing then as if it has intelligence apart from Salamanders and my own –though it may just be Salamander and probably is- and spins around me; no, the fire wraps around my like a cocoon for my muscles, organs, and bones.

Then that fire spreads downward just the way Salamander had overridden the demon. The fire consumes my muscles and my organs with less speed than my skin but it is consumed anyway. There is still no pain, only comfort and the strange sensation of deterioration with the promise of restoration. My bones are the most resistant but Salamander has them soon as well.

Once I'm completely consumed my overtaken body explodes. I can feel how wide the blast radius is and I also feel that this happened while we were still in the air and that he could not have hit enemy or ally. The flames swirl and expand as if it were part of my body. I suppose now it is part of my body, this sensation is amazing.

The explosion makes no sound to me but I doubt it's like that on the outside because I distinctly hear Joselyn screaming for me. She probably thinks the sorceress just killed me. I imagine from up there it looked much like the sorceress was just casting a fire spell on me and escaping rather than being destroyed herself –if she was, I really doubt it- than Salamander and Lich intervening.

… Hyne I hope she doesn't hit me when she sees that I'm fine…

**Salamanders Finale**

"GRAVE!" Joselyn shouts at the top of her lungs, briefly unaware of the remaining enemy's. Cody takes a defensive position realizing he won't get the girl to budge.

Joselyn has actually taken to watching the happenings before this explosion. She began watching when she saw Grave being levitated helplessly –it seemed so since he was not struggling but part of her wanted to think that Grave wasn't exactly helpless- high up to the clouds. He was in her arms.

Hyne that burned her, that other woman was embracing him. She wanted to destroy her for it. Just for that. But she took consolation in knowing that Grave was not embracing her back.

From that distance it looked like Grave had been hit with a burning spell that acted as napalm because the fire never went out, it consumed him completely. To her it looked not like Cornucopia's body had dissolved, but simply vanished. Teleported away or something like that.

Then the explosion took away all hope she had that Grave was fine and alive. Her scream was the pressure busting out of the exit wound in her heart. This was just like their field exam when he had kissed her hand and jumped out of the whelp.

_But he can't have survived that_, she thought.

_I'm going to run in to the fray_, he had said, _I'll be back in a minute._

He had spent much more than a minute with Ostentat.

Joselyn takes a moment to examine the fire her lover has apparently exploded inside and she is struck by some familiar features it has. Firstly, it creates no smoke –when Joselyn decides to think about this more clearly she remembers she has never heard of even a sorceress creating smokeless fire. Secondly, she notices the fire is not dissipating either; it swirls around after the explosion. And thirdly, she sees slivers of the lightest shade of purple which has only stood out to her in two places.

The slivers of purple are the most significant thing she sees and for a moment she feels the hope. Her belly unclenches and she thinks clearly, but only for a moment.

She has seen that shade of purple on Grave, only his flesh featuring more nerve endings than any other had that shade of purple –except for one part with especially more endings, which is a much darker shade.

Normally Joselyn would lose that moment of clarity in an instant; refilled by the dread poured down our throats from Death's hourglass. And she would be stuck with that feeling for the rest of her life: which she would seriously consider ending.

Before Death could even uncap his hourglass and open her jaw with one wretched finger the swirling fire gathers into a pillar whilst swooping upwards like a great many birds and takes shape. Every last wisp of fire comes together on the invisible skeleton and the result is a giant amphibian shape that does not blaze but glows. I glows bright orange with a yellow shine and a white core like a lizard shaped sun.

Salamander twists and swirls until his tail is pointing to space and his face is watching over the inhabitants of the battlefield. Joselyn and few others look up to him at first. Those who look at him see an unmistakable smile on him past his great glow. Those whose eyes adjust to him see it even more clearly. Joselyn sees that he is moving his head and scanning the battlefield. He looks like he approves somehow and Joselyn is confused knowing that he is an ally.

Then his transformation is not quite over. Black lines develop under what must be his skin. But not the contorted branches of veins, more like a tattoo. The lines travel all over his body in a distinct pattern and knot at the spots where his joints are –or would be, assuming he has joints.

Then red slivers emerge as though from slits in his skin. The redness wafts up lazily and the base of it spreads all over Salamanders skin. The transparent red stuff rises from him like smoke.

Salamander doesn't think he needs to tell the victors this red smoke is Grave's hatred. It wafts out of his body when he does this and it always will. This is no way to get rid of the boy's hatred for he manufactures it in his body non-stop. This is simply a vent for something limitless, and it will also serve as intimidation for those who can feel it.

Salamander gives off calmness and incorruptibility. Joselyn feels an assurance that he is not possessed and that is when she stops hearing the sounds of battle around her. Then she hears the sounds of things dropping and metal clashing on fallen things. Joselyn looks behind her and sees Cody still in attack position; looking bewilderedly at the uninjured enemy who has fallen in front of him. Joselyn looks all around the battlefield and sees that this is happening with every other enemy soldier on the battlefield. The SeeDs and cadets have stopped fighting. Cody reluctantly moves from his stance but does not move his eyes from his enemy.

Nobody moves, and most other SeeDs and cadets are not as brave as Cody so nobody else's guard goes down. Even the PesticidE's are too wary of them. This could be yet another trick like the one they pulled at the beginning of the battle.

But no knight rises. None of them shout an order for the first time or make any move that might summon even more mechanical help. Nothing.

Until the one that Cody was fighting breathes. He sucks in air pathetically with his face planted in the grass muddy red. Cody assumes the position again but the soldier does not seem to notice him yet. He puts his hands on the grass, pushes himself up, he staggers quite a lot but manages to stay on his feet. Joselyn has a feeling she doesn't need to assume her stance.

The soldier doesn't even pick his sword back up.

"Oh, my fuckin' back," the man complains not yet registering the heavy weight on his head is his helmet and not the liquor he filled himself with before succumbing to that cute brunette in the red dress. He does register before however that there is a teenager with a spear and no wounds standing in front of him and giving him a look that suggests he will gore his belly if he makes any movement. Now that he has his human senses back he simply raises his arms in surrender. It's right about now that he notices he's wearing his uniform.

With various different phrases and expletives –and in rare cases a lack thereof- this same thing happened with every other living Galbadian soldier. More Galbadians had fallen due to a lack of skill. The ones remaining who could analyze the situation realized instantly they had awoken from some sleep into a battle they had already lost. Those who do not put up their hands immediately soon take after the wiser ones, and in the minds of the Balamb Garden army the battle was officially over. This had to mean that the sorceress was no longer in the area.

But it was not true. The battle was not officially over and Salamander realized that. He jerks his body and that affects the light of the battlefield so that everybody looks up to him. Even the Galbadian soldiers, even the ones on guard against the Galbadian soldiers don't make a move. They have no where to escape to.

Salamander jerks again to face the Galbadian Garden, below them the demon Seifer Almasy watches with as much interest as anybody else. There is no debris around him, and he holds his red weapon with the tip pointing to the ground as if he were resting it there –really he's holding it, it would fall through to the center of the earth and float in the planets core if he dropped it.

Salamander twists and barrel rolls his body creating a tornado of fire and hatred and touches down directly into the widow's peak of G-Garden. He spins into the molten opening like beautiful hair going down the drain. The opening looks like a giant bullet wound caked with shining orange blood.

Quickly the bright orange heat shines brilliantly through the hull of G-Garden. If only somebody could photograph it this moment could be a monument to the victory of Balamb Garden.

The great fire spirits momentum maintains the shape of the exterior perfectly. If they had not seen him enter and if they could not see his tail flicker occasionally through the great wound then they would have thought the hull was glowing bright orange for no reason. Or perhaps one last grand spell from the sorceress turning G-Garden into a rolling ball of molten metal.

But they did know what was happening and something about the grand spirits countenance told them that Salamander was on their side. So they watch comfortably with the remainder of their confused enemies as the victory is finally taken by them. Certain people like Joselyn are of the mind that it is being made official _for_ them. Salamander does not need to do this. He and his fellow espers, in her opinion, were allies instead of tools now. If it had been their idea to do this she thought it would have been necessary to ask him to do it.

Eventually the shape of the hull can't be maintained anymore and it begins to melt on the outside like a sweating ham. The design melts away and the floating vessel begins to look like a melting sun; with great drops of molten light collecting at the bottom as rings and falling to the earth like cosmic havoc magic.

The great gobs of molten metal fall to the ground looking like miniature orbs of the great wad. They hit the ground in a grand artistic splash, one after the other, steadily dropping at a higher rate. The drops become a steady stream, then a lake of molten metal. The giant opening melts over itself, the whole shape collapses like a soda can crushing.

Seifer can be seen leaving the area in front of G-Garden; it is impossible to tell if he is panicked.

Salamander erupts from the top looking like a geyser and the molten orb crashes into the shining lake. Streams and drops fall off of his skin like he is a dolphin leaping out of the water.

Every drop of molten metal falls from his body and lands in the lake of molten metal –which at first looks like foam overflowing from a mug and spreading over the ground- soon that metal will destroy the earth below it and become a lake; when the lake is dry it will be a marble pattern of red black and white. But for now it is still glowing yellow, orange, and white.

Salamander smiles in the sky and slowly opens his eyes to see the sun that can revitalize him. He has the air of somebody who has just enjoyed a nice shower. He feels no pressure to go back down right now for this is the first time he has been this free in ages. He has to tolerate these strange black markings and the raw hatred wafted out of his skin but neither of those things are really painful. Tolerable.

Salamander doesn't feel like going back down but he must. He needs to prove to his friends that Grave is perfectly fine and not under his control. For the only reason Salamander has control is because Grave is allowing him to have it. If Grave wished he could have taken total control over Salamanders body. But Salamander senses that Grave will not do that because he is afraid. Openly afraid of course, Grave would not hide that sort of things even from his friends, and with this symbiosis Grave can hide nothing from Salamander.

The spirit decides he will teach Grave how to operate his body another time. Possibly Lich will submit to that notion as well. He knows even now that Lich will be wary of the idea but she will eventually accept that the boy who harbors them should be able to use his new power.

If only because it will help keep the demon under control; taking Salamanders form Grave makes it impossible for the demon to do the same thing to him. It is strictly a one at a time policy.

And Salamander does miss being out in reality. Graves mind is a fine and unusual place but nothing feels like real fresh air. Nothing feels like the real sunlight soaking into his skin like milk into a large slice of cake. Before he entered Graves mind for the first time, and spent time inside, he had never thought his body could feel cold. But now that he is out he feels revitalized by the sun and the wind flapping his first layer of heat like shredded wet paper.

Grave feels this as well and he realizes now how cold he usually feels. Dully cold like a corpse in the wet dirt. Feeling Salamanders appreciation for the tangible landscape makes him wonder what kind of environment would make him feel this way. With Salamanders body he knows that his fire spirit could never become uncomfortable in it, but with his human body there is such a thing as too much sun.

He assumes that this place is inside Joselyn but he can't bask in that feeling forever like Salamander can. But that must just be the perk of being eternal. Perhaps trying to find something that he literally can bask in forever is moot since he himself is not eternal. Grave decides that Joselyn is that grand pleasure.

Eventually Salamander decides it's time to stop stalling with his pleasure and thoughts on what the grandest pleasure is. He can't keep Grave thinking about all of this forever and he does need to be returned to his friends and solid ground which he perhaps adores just as much as said friends.

Though of course he takes the ground for granted so even if he _knew_ that the ground was important he could never…

_Salamander!_ Grave bellows from inside the great spirits chest cavity noticing automatically that Salamander is still pursuing methods of stalling. Salamander snickers in his inhuman way and the humans below begin to worry if he actually is as sinister as he looks. Without concern of retaliation Salamander dives back to the ground moving as if he has no bones. His nose turns upwards and begins moving down and the rest of his body follows suit as if performing an elastic U-turn.

He dives fast seeming to have the intention to plunge into his own allies but he just smiles. Salamander is fond of mischief; he knows that the SeeDs and cadets are going to get out of his way and his smile does not falter just a bit. He feels Grave's amusement on this behavior and jokingly says they might swoop a bit to scare them more. Salamander laughs internally so that only Grave can hear him. They decide against that.

A landing area much larger than Salamander needs opens up and he stops over it and hovers like a strangely shaped boat floating by the harbor. Joselyn is the one who dares come near. He face becomes pink from the heat, begins to sting her skin but she holds still.

Salamander looks directly at her with one black eye. That eye reflects the light of the sun whitely making him seem human to Joselyn. An ally's glance. She sees promise of Grave's health which is lovely but she wants proof. She would look at him more kindly but she is rather annoyed that he is holding her lover from her.

Salamander closes his eyes and as his lids close his body comes apart and rises like smoke; up with the hatred which dissipates instantly -Grave thinks it's the humanity of it that makes it impermanent. As his face and body vanishes, Salamander maintains the serene look on his face as he leaves the physical world again, into Grave's clammy mind. He knows that Grave will let him out again and Lich too. He looks forward to another time when he will be able to enjoy the sun again.

As the remainder of Salamanders body comes away Grave descends to the ground by a tether of hot energy. He is still cocooned but it looks more like a net rather than a coffin. It turns so that his feet are pointing to the ground and the rest of Salamander vanishes, the tether around his body is the last to go and he hits the ground softly from only a few inches up. His arms unwrap from his torso and his eyes open up sleepily, but he does not look like a man who has been sleeping. He looks like he has been ravaged into relaxation with his eyes closed and opening them without disappointment but memory of the pleasure.

Joselyn will recognize the look.

There is no trace of heat now that Salamander has left but Joselyn is the only one brave enough to run to Grave. The rest of the soldiers watch intently the way a scientist might watch a guinea pig under a dangerous test. But she is not burned and she will not be burned for all the heat from Salamander goes with him when he is gone.

SeeDs know this about Guardian Forces but what just happened is not normal, which means even the most basic knowledge about summoning is open to questioning now.

Joselyn slides on front of Grave and throws her arms around his neck and he lazily and happily puts his arms around her waist. He smiles like a little boy who just got to ride in a really fast plane with his face resting on her breasts. He rubs her butt affectionately with one hand.

Joselyn strikes him in the head and he gives himself an 'I told you so' without his smile faltering. His eyes stay closed and he keeps his face on her chest. He clutches her butt cheek.

"You did it again, how many more times am I going to have to watch you defy death?" She doesn't sound like she'll cry but that may only be because of the people around them. Part of Grave's bicep gets tired so he slides his hand into her back pocket and rests it there.

"How many more missions do you think we'll have to do in our lifetimes?" For this he receives another whack to the head but nothing falters this time either, and Joselyn keeps clutching him.

_**EG**_

On the other side of the battlefield Seifer has stopped running. The molten Garden was moving slowly but he was much too close to it before. Even in his black state he was not so sure that surviving lava was possible. He could destroy an entire fleet of Black Widows but he didn't know the limit of his body minus his pride.

_Cursed, yes. Immortal… doubt it._

He stops and looks at the still battlefield. The remaining Galbadian soldiers standing confused and no longer armed; he believes they have no idea where they are or why they are surrounded by the result of an extremely violent war. Or perhaps it was not a war, Seifer was not quite sure if a battle lasting less than twenty four hours could qualify as a war.

The ambience of threat is gone and even Seifer can feel it. He doesn't share that sixth sense for energy in the air like so many other soldiers of his caliber, but right now he can tell this battle is over. There is no threat anymore.

But he still feels that tether he has to the sorceress. She is not in the area, but she is still alive. Or rather she still _exists_. She probably lost the rest of her body to the battlefield and had to retreat her essence somewhere where she could pool her power and maintain ectoplasmic structure.

But whatever she did she still existed and if she still existed that meant this was not over yet. This victory was only the first step to ultimately defeating the sorceress again.

_Soon,_ he thought, _soon Ultimecia will fall again_.


	15. One More Time, One Last Time

_Disclaimer &A/N: I don't own FF8 or Squaresoft, credit for Graves joke in the infirmary goes to my late father who told the same joke on his deathbed with my mother. The first song is for Seifer, the second for Grave and Joselyn. I realize I ought to be ashamed for using Staind lyrics but, I have no shame. So bite me._

_I woke the same as any other day except a voice was in my head_

_It said seize the day, pull the trigger, drop the blade and watch the rolling heads._

_The day I tried to live I stole a thousand beggars change and gave it to the rich,_

_The day I tried to win I dangled from the power lines and let the martyrs stretch._

_Singing one more time around, might do it,_

_One more time around, might make it,_

_One more time around, might do it,_

_One more time around,_

_The day I tried to live._

_Words you say never seem to live up to the ones inside your head_

_The lives we make never seem to ever get us anywhere but dead._

_The day I tried to live I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs._

_I woke the same as any other day you know I should have stayed in bed._

_The day I tried to live I wallowed in the blood and mud with all the other pigs._

_And I learned that I was a liar, just like you._

_The Day I Tried To Live –Soundgarden_

_It's been awhile since I could hold my head up high,_

_And it's been awhile since I first saw you._

_And it's been awhile since I could stand on my own two feet again,_

_And it's been a while since I could call you…(my friend.)_

_And everything I can't remember,_

_As fucked up as it all may seem,_

_The consequences that are rendered,_

_I've stretched myself beyond my means._

_And it's been a while since I could say that I wasn't addicted,_

_And it's been a while since I could say I love myself as well as…_

_And it's been awhile since I've gone and fucked things up just like I always do_

_And it's been awhile, but all that shit seems to disappear when I'm with you._

_And everything I can't remember,_

_As fucked up as it all may seem,_

_The consequences that I've rendered,_

_I've gone and fucked things up again._

_Why must I feel this way?_

_Just make this go away,_

_Just one more peaceful day._

_And it's been awhile since I could look at myself straight,_

_And it's been awhile since I said I'm sorry,_

_And it's been a while since I've seen the way the candle lights your face,_

_And it's been a while but I can still remember just the way you taste._

_And everything I can't remember,_

_As fucked up as it all may seem,_

_To be I know it's me,_

_I cannot blame this on my father, he did the best he could for me._

_And it's been awhile since I could hold my head up high,_

_And it's been awhile since I said I'm sorry._

_It's Been Awhile –Staind_

**Part Fifteen: One More Time, One Last Time**

**Almasy Anew**

Seifer wishes Xu wouldn't watch him pack his things this way. The bitch has been leaning in the doorway doing a damn good job of pretending to look concerned for him. If he had been blessedly struck deaf ten minutes ago when she started her griping then he would have been fooled. If she had just leaned in the doorway and put on that concerned face, the one that is only normal to him when Quistis wears it, then he would have been fooled. But her phony concern sets off alarms in his head that only ever go off when he is watching out for dangerous liars who might be assassins hiding inside a politician or a friendly host. PesticidE's are trained to watch out for anybody and everybody after all, and that includes the clients.

Seifer twitches with disappointment remembering his former title, and remembering why he is packing his bag right now. Why he has to listen to Xu pretend that she cares about his unmasking.

"Raising morale after this is going to be impossible," she said trying to sound consoling and sympathetic, but Seifer could not feel that, it seemed to him she was just feeling sorry for herself and that she wanted _him_ to console _her_.

So she was practically asking for a tongue lashing from him.

"Just keep wearing your ovaries on the outside and I think that morale will be fine Zoo," he said trying to stuff the sleeve in the duffle bag. A seam had ripped in it and the dirty fabric kept flopping out.

"Xu, _Xu!_ For the last time you twit, the Z sound value is sharper than that!" She shouted giving up entirely on trying to be nice to him. To hell with Quistis, if she were going to voluntarily involve herself with Seifer Almasy then she would have to learn to put up with his mood on her own.

"Why do you have to watch me anyway? I'm not even dressed yet."

"I'm supposed to accompany you to the balcony Seifer, you know how this goes, you've attended this kind of ceremony twice before."

"Yeah I did, so I know that you don't have to jam your nose up my ass to know how my packing is going." He turned around then in nothing but an eye patch and white boxers. "So out," and he pointed over shoulder, and she did not budge an inch save for her eyes that tried hard to lock onto his cyclopean face.

She did not leave, and Seifer is pricked deep by the fact that she still has charge over him so he can't shove her out of his former room rightfully. He grumbles an aggravated sigh, which also fails to deliver her from the doorway so he gives up and goes back to his Sisyphean task with the duffle bag.

"You aren't supposed to do that with the duffle bag you know, the uniform is folded and the helmet set on top-"

"I don't give a shit," he interrupts her with finality and for once she lets him get away with running his mouth.

It was rather a new ceremony actually and one of the few ceremonies's Balamb Garden has ever had. So Seifer is right in implying that the rules are not set in stone. And besides, Seifers reputation as a rebel would make his cooperation with the ceremonies rules less of a ceremony, theoretically speaking of course.

"What are you going to do now?" Xu asks, it sounds out of the blue to Seifer because her tone sounds genuine all of the sudden.

Seifer puts all of his weight on the duffle bag and exhales frustrated. Not so much frustrated by his packing as he is by Xu's nosiness. The truth was he had not put the tiniest bit of thought into it. The first thing he wanted when his mask came off other than Ultimecia's severed head was to leave B-Garden again. It was not until Quistis approached him after the battle and that blackness fell away did he think that she might want him to stay.

He will certainly not tell Xu, but his plan is to put off the thinking until Quistis can think about it with him. The decision of whether or not he stays will be made by her, that much he knows. But because he does not really know what Quistis wants he has not planned what will happen to him in the immediate future. If she wants him and if B-Garden will keep him then he will find a way to make himself useful in the Garden. If she wants him to leave then he will probably just fish until he is too old and decrepit to dodge the sharks.

Seifer articulates the phrase before he says anything. He hopes that if he says this just right then it will just shut Xu up. "I don't know if that is any of your business yet. If I don't leave Garden, then it is, if not, then I'll just jump overboard and be out of your hair. Sound fine?" He gives the zipper another vicious tug and Xu does shut up, she won't go on about that at least.

"What time is the ceremony?" He asks once he is finished packing. The room is just the way he found it two and a half years ago, save for the residue of his aura –and possibly his smell… he hopes not- which will linger for an uncertain amount of time. Perhaps it will deteriorate and the room will feel stale and dry when it is old. Or perhaps it will be fresh again when new life inhabits it.

He will have to be replaced after all, if it is indeed possible to replace Savior.

"Seven O'clock sharp, if you're late then you're going overboard whether you like it or not."

Seifer sneers at her and says nothing. Seven O'clock it is, he will make sure he is at the balcony's entrance by six fifty five then. Quistis would be happy if he followed her example of being slightly early for an appointment.

Seifer keeps his back to Xu and he says nothing, he does nothing, and she follows his example. His clothes are laid out on the bed being the only items left unpacked. He meant to imply with this that they were finished talking and she should leave so he could get dressed. So that he could be alone in this room one last time. So he could try to feel like Savior for just a few more minutes before he had to be Seifer Almasy again for the rest of his life.

_Get out of my fucking room bitch!_

He bites his tongue for that thought; only because he doesn't want to hear her say that it is not his room anymore.

"Waiting for something?" Xu asks testily, by her tone he might think that she wants to do just what he wants to do in here. He knows though that she just wants to shut this door without him behind it so she can feel like it is not his room anymore. She will cross out his name wherever it is written that this room is his, hell she might even want to disinfect it just as a joke. More than anything she will try not to think about how much of his DNA is permanently a part of the sheets…

_Enough to drown you probably._

Seifer jerks around with his forehead scrunched and his cock swings beneath his boxers which she notices but does not focus on. "Get out!" He shouts at her no longer afraid of being written up or thrown overboard. He used to believe Xu when she said that she would have him thrown overboard and he knew that if she ordered the other PesticidE's to help her then it might have actually worked. He would have run and fought them off but his reputation as Savior would have been powderized if he harmed any of his comrades. If being thrown overboard was the only option other damaging his reputation as the equal to the heroes.

Which Xu will never be. She could be even closer to Quistis than he is, she can have all the authority over him she likes but she will never be ranked on the same level as him no matter what she does. He knows that, always has –and he believed it before it became the truth- and so he will never actually be as pissed at her as he appears to be. He will not launch his harshest ammunition at her because he knows that she perforates her own self with the same stuff already.

Xu leans in the doorway considering his demand as if it was a request and she still had authority over him. She is not over that yet he has decided. She still feels like she's allowed to order him around… as if she were _obligated_ to order him around which is how she really feels. Even before she had her authority she reminded Seifer constantly of the rules and regulations both with her mouth and her devoted example and supreme work ethic.

Each of those things he either scoffed at or deemed unimportant to his own goals. Mouthing off about the rules is no way to get pussy, and actually following those rules is no way to achieve immediate satisfaction to any other personal goal. Following somebody else's rules will have you succeeding like somebody else.

And Seifer has always, personally, felt that Headmaster was, and is not, the position for him.

"Sorry," he might say without convincing anybody.

Perhaps deciding that she has tormented him enough for one morning, perhaps deciding that she should give up on staying in the room alone so he can't do it for himself, Xu turns around and presses the button to shut the door. She will give him at least fifteen minutes if he guesses correctly before she opens the door and expects him to walk out forever whether he is ready or not.

Probably just fifteen minutes, but that will be enough.

He pulls on his socks, black jeans, gray vest, and his boots. His brain feels foggy and numb suddenly, and when he clasps on his necklace the tinkling sound blossoms spots of pain inside his head. His shoulders feel weak and so he slides his new trench coat on slowly, he does not feel the strength to straighten it though. It feels uncomfortable like when your sock is wrinkled beneath your shoe. It was a birthday present for Fujin which he snuck out of the training center in a satchel not long ago. It is a deep, dignified red number with a huge black fire cross emblazoned all over the back of it. He loves the thing but when he looked at it not long ago, last December, he hoped that he would never actually wear it.

And now on it goes.

He straightens it anyway, buttons it and tightens the belt, pushes the collar up and slips on the gloves tucked inside the pockets meticulously. He takes his pesticide weapon and secures it on his belt, then he takes Hyperion, also resting on the mattress with everything else and he secures it next to the simpler weapon. Fully loaded, cleaned and oiled with three years of care and lack of use.

Seifer Almasy again.

"God Damnit."

Seifer loses the feeling in his knees and his ass hits the mattress not of his own accord. He puts his face in his hands and he allows his remaining eye to cry for ten minutes.

"God fucking Damnit."

**A Perfectly Reputable Establishment**

Isn't it funny? I feel fine.

I didn't dream and have not been conscious since, and now that I have a chance to think about it I'm surprised that I'm not sore all over, that my bones don't feel like they're peeling apart like rope coming undone. I am content… happy even. Just tired, like the first morning I woke up with Joselyn on top of me. Except now I feel a different kind of satisfaction.

"You awake?" There she is, her voice is as soft and sweet and cool as freshly whipped cream… heh, I just made myself hungry.

I open up my eyes and I'm surprised but not taken aback by her face an inch away from mine. She's smiling slyly at me; I can tell she wasn't the least bit worried about me. She's just been waiting for me to wake up, she knew I would.

"Hey sexy," I whisper but not from exhaustion, I'm well rested, I feel much strength in my voice. Joselyn raises her eyebrows in mock inquiry of why I would call her that.

"I'm glad you're up," she reaches one arm to my shoulder then her other hand to my other shoulder. She slides her body from the chair next to me to lie on my body and the pleasure I feel throughout is instant and overwhelming. She must feel me stiffening because her smile stiffens further with it. "You had me worried for about twenty minutes," she slips her arms around my neck and keeps her face a fraction of distance from mine, she sighs relaxed and I smell her sharp sweet breath.

I really don't want to but I'm going to resist the urge to kiss her for a moment.

I wrap my arms around her waist and squeeze her so tight that our noses brush which makes her giggle. "How long was I out?" I know this will have to segue into what has happened during my… um, nap, but at least at first it will be our intimacy, all I really want right now.

"About twenty hours, whatever it is you did must have worn you out." I do get my moment but it doesn't last as long as I wanted it to. She suddenly looks worried about me despite knowing I'm fine. But something amazing has happened to me and she doesn't know a thing about it. And she must know.

I close my eyes, I adjust my head, I lick her lips and I kiss her. She kisses me back, soft warm and wet and I feel that she needs to feel it as much as I do, but I can tell that after I stop she'll want me to talk. That's fine.

I pull away before she does and she opens her eyes before I do, or perhaps her eyes never closed, perhaps she likes to look at me when we kiss.

"'scuse me?" The unwelcome voice says from the open curtain.

Damnit.

Joselyn and I look together to Rinoa Leonhart rudely staring at us. She's annoyed but there's the tiniest quirk of a smile there, I might be able to just make her leave us be.

"You can't do that," she says with strictness that doesn't sound normal for her. "One person to a bed." She sounds sharp but that quirk is still there, I know she feels for us.

I look to Joselyn who gives me a side glance of distrust for the brunette; I do my best to look puzzled. I look back to Mrs. Leonhart doing my best impression of innocence which I can tell already she is not fooled by, but I will ignore that.

"But," I begin trying for a hint of sadness in my voice, "but Dial-A-Strumpet guaranteed she'd fit."

Joselyn crams her lips against my shoulder while still managing to look in Mrs. Leonhart's direction and she muffles her laughter against me. I realize that I'm not wearing a shirt now my lover's mouth is on my skin. I can't help but smile too but I don't want to laugh at my own joke so I stifle my own giggles. Joselyn is laughing enough for both of us anyway I think.

Just as I had hoped that little quirk grows and I know I have broken through the ice. She rolls her eyes at me and lets her smile grow completely. Her eyes land on us again and I feel suddenly confident that we're off the hook for now.

"Fine, I will trust that Dial-A-Strumpet has the utmost integrity and can be trusted completely."

"Damn straight."

"But," she pauses holding up one finger. "My friends the higher ups will be here soon and we all want a complete explanation about what you did on the battlefield yesterday. You have fifteen minutes, just don't make any moose noises," she says mockingly and winks at us, and then she closes the curtain and walks back to her desk.

"Hey!" I shout trying to spare Joselyn's ears. "Joselyn does NOT sound like a moose."

"Grave!" Joselyn says sharply directly into my face -which is somehow pleasant- and quickly she shifts into a whisper. "It is none of her damn business what sounds you make me make."

"I just thought you were being insulted." In my own defense, I do realize the nurse was joking but it did sound like an insult to me.

Joselyn looks perversely pleased yet unimpressed by me. "That's sweet Grave, but I really don't care." She grants me another kiss on the mouth and this one lasts much longer, my fingers are contemplating clutching her sweet butt of their own accord just as she stops.

"I'd rather not say it twice; can it wait until everybody else gets here? I promise that if I leave anything out I'll tell you about it later." I'm careful to whisper all of this to her, particularly that last bit, I don't want to be interrogated just because I was loud enough for the nurse to eavesdrop.

Joselyn considers me for a moment but she only looks satisfied after she gives me a delicate peck on my nose. "Fine." The feeling of the nose kiss lingers pleasantly and I forget for a moment what I was about to ask her, and then she tells me without needing to be asked.

"The statistics are pretty awful." Her tone says she knows she cares about that much more than I do. "We started with approximately two thousand and now we're down to one thousand two hundred."

Shit, Quistis is probably liquefying with tears right now.

"Galbadia…" She stops looking at me; she is so suddenly quiet that I worry that she will stay quiet until the heroes get here.

"Joselyn?" I urge her and for a moment I worry that I cannot, but she looks at me again and she speaks.

"Sorry, I just thought that I should rephrase what I just said. We started with a mixture of approximately two thousand SeeD's, PesticidE's and cadets, plus two demons."

Two? I know who the first one is for sure, but two?

"Two." I state.

"It's Savior, Grave." She states grim.

My eyes seem to bust wide open. I can't help it. Savior is a demon?

"To be more specific," she says and raises one index finger as if she just realized that she needs to correct herself. "Savior is Seifer Almasy, and Seifer Almasy became a demon on our side."

Despite myself I can't help but conjure this image: Savior convulses inside on the battlefield suddenly, something huge is killing him on the inside and he can't fight back. He falls backward and a familiar black blade rises out of his throat like a shark fin and slices him open down to his groin. Then the familiar eighteen year old Seifer Almasy crawls out like a man rescuing himself from the edge of a cliff. He smiles he opens his eyes wide he cackles his head off he beats his chest triumphantly and then he starts to massacre…

Galbadians?

"I've got this unbelievable vision in my head all of a sudden, and I know there has to be a million things wrong with it. You're going to have to tell me more than that." I ask and she nods hastily which tells me that she was going to explain it anyway.

"Cornucopia Ostentat, when confronted by Savior cracked his helmet open with a fire spell and it was Almasy. I don't know if he was the one to say it or a rumor just started but allegedly he's been repenting for the last two and a half years."

Well he saved your life twice so I forgive him.

"Quistis told me this part," Joselyn begins with controlled grimness, as if she can't help but sound morbid and doesn't want too. "Ostentat starting _insulting_ him. Bruising his pride so to speak, and he… he," she shakes her head and slaps the mattress with both hands on either side of me. "Fucking transformed!"

I blink but I say nothing, I'm sure she has more than that.

"He turned black, and he had this shining red cross on his back, it like, melted down his arm and into his sword and his sword became the cross symbol. Then his one eye turned into this green fire and he severed Ostentat at the waist."

My eyes must go wide because she stops.

"Ostentat must have come to me right after that. She dripped on me a little bit." I say.

"Oh my Hyne that's disgusting." Joselyn makes a funny face and I can't help but smile at her. At least something funny just came from that nastiness.

"Did I have to be cleaned off at all?" I ask absently hoping to give her stomach a chance to restore itself.

"Well, yeah they let me wash you off alone." Had Joselyn been anybody else I think she would have blushed, but not my brazen woman oh no. "But I didn't find anything like gore on you…" she makes a different kind of face and I think I know what she is thinking. "Which is pretty fucking weird because you were probably soaked before, that thing happened…"

"I was. I suppose Salamander might have burned all that shit off of me."

"Yeah," she says quietly, with less breath than I am used to hearing from her.

"Joselyn you're worrying me." I stroke her back with one hand, her neck and cheek with the other but she is not soothed and I am worried even more.

"I just want to know what happened on your end of things. I'm just kind of uneasy and impatient. That's all."

"Hmm," I don't want to press her for her feelings more, not yet. Instead I press my fingers into one of her butt cheeks and I finally get a little smile out of her for it "Joselyn?"

"Mm Hmm?" She seems to have forgotten what she was going to say after we trailed off.

"What are the statistics for Galbadia Joselyn?" She looks as if she did not want me to remind her.

"G-Garden is a lot bigger than B-Garden. They started with between four and five thousand soldiers, approximately five hundred black widows and approximately seven hundred and fifty miscellaneous war machines."

She pauses for too long, too long, "And?"

"Two hundred," she states simply.

My eyes open yet wider, I can't relax them. "Two hundred what?"

"Soldiers: just soldiers. You basically melted the miscellaneous machines; Almasy annihilated every single black widow on his own, between you two and the rest of our army the other hundreds of soldiers were dealt with less efficiently. G-Garden is a melted shell. The whole 'War' lasted less than five hours." I start to say something after a minute but I cannot, I… wow.

Shit.

The door to the infirmary hisses open and the sound of footsteps are obviously coming our way. Mrs. Leonhart's white hand opens the curtain again and Joselyn makes no move to get off of me as they file in; Quistis, Miss Tilmitt, the temporary headmistress Xu, and Mrs. Leonhart again. I'm not surprised that Mr. Almasy isn't among them but part of me is disappointed and I think that Joselyn feels just the same way. I feel compelled to meet the man for real now that his real self is out in the open again.

Maybe Joselyn and I could approach him later.

Everybody sits down around us and nobody bothers to hide their smiles –Xu makes an exception by scowling slightly, I understand that one of the rules of her own personal version of B-Garden includes no intimacy between students in public areas- Joselyn still makes no move to budge and I make no move to budge her.

As if by Xu's will a creaking sound comes from beneath the bed, a sound like wire unraveling and it snaps. Joselyn and I cover one another's heads in that instant and I manage to take most of the shock when we hit the floor, it's no worse than falling into a filled bathtub. We don't move for a while until Joselyn pokes her head out of the small wreckage, she's probably smiling, and pretending innocence.

Because she would not be ashamed. Not that beautiful brazen woman of mine oh no, oh no.

_**EG**_

"Grave?" Quistis asks amused and delighted, not caring that Xu doesn't want her to approve of this.

"Yes?" His voice is muffled but clear. She can tell he's more amused than annoyed.

"If you're feeling better we can go someplace else and let the mechanics fix the bed."

"That sounds fabulous." He deadpans with the smile on his face that they imagine beneath the blanket and wreckage covering his head.

"Wait a second," Rinoa says with command as if all must wait, even Grave shouldn't be allowed to emerge and so he does not. "This boy will need a basic examination before I can let him leave the infirmary," she states happily and with an amount of sarcasm that shocks Quistis on the inside. They can all tell perfectly well how well Grave is… and despite any other ailments he might have they are certainly not going to keep him from standing up and walking out the door.

"Grave?" She continues "How are you feeling, any pains or aches, loss of feeling, loss of vision, can you stand up?"

Grave is silent for a long time then answers back, still underneath the blanket and busted bed matter. "Well, I experience occasional spells of demonic possession but otherwise I'm fine."

The three heroes giggle, Xu's lips twitch but not into a smile, and Joselyn conceals biting down her tongue with a big tight smile. Joselyn throws the hunk of aluminum off of Graves head and helps him sit up. Based on the way his body bends they can tell that Joselyn is sitting in his lap, his face is at level with her throat so he has to look up at her and she down on him.

For a moment Quistis feels like she's looking at them through a periscope from across a grand distance. To Quistis, Grave and Joselyn look like they're alone together. In the very next moment looking at those two, Quistis doesn't see them, but herself and Seifer in just the same position. She sees what she wants right now. She wants to leave these two alone and find Seifer.

If Grave himself understood how Quistis feels right now he would probably explain it thusly: It is as if they tore Quistis's chest open between her breasts, sliced a deep but clean gouge in her heart, then bent her head forward and down then one hundred and eighty degrees up so she could look inside her own heart.

For they really do, they do that, they show her the insides of their hearts.

The shock of that passes as quickly as the moment does and so nobody notices Quistis lose herself in space for a few seconds.

Joselyn stands up and helps Grave to his feet. He wobbles a bit but it's only the wobble of somebody who just got out of bed after most of a days worth of rest.

"Where should we go Grave?" Quistis asks crisp and clearly to prove to herself that she sounds lucid even though she feels anything but.

"The private room in the cafeteria," he answers without appearing to have thought about it at all. "I feel like I've skipped at least two meals."

"Me too Grave, me too," Quistis says fearing there's too much intimacy in her voice but nobody seems to notice it but her.

**Keepers Of Secrets**

Joselyn is excited and she thinks she did a very good job of hiding it.

The meeting lasted no more than an hour and it sounded much, much less informative than she expected it to be. Grave averted to all of their questions and told them straightforward everything he was comfortable telling them. He told them every word that Cornucopia Ostentat said to him, how they found each other in the conflict, and that Salamander came forth through his body and won the battle mercilessly.

This combining, this morphing that Grave accomplished is one of the most astounding events in recorder Esper history.

And he only told them _that_ it happened. He avoided explaining _how_.

So she feels her gratitude and affection for him swelling because she believes he avoided that topic just for her. He wants her to know first. Then, perhaps after his lover has been privileged with the information, then the heroes might be let in on it.

Joselyn grips Grave's hand hard and smiles down on him as they walk back to their apartment together. But she is troubled that he doesn't detect her look and doesn't look up at her at all.

Grave is the one to open the door and he seems to either not know anymore, or not really care that Joselyn is with him. She is careful to keep his hand in hers as they cross into their private apartment and she closes the door behind them.

Grave manages to slip his hand out of hers as if it were a slimy fish; it feels naturally cold all of a sudden, his skin seems tough -but it does feel like it will be soft again. She follows close behind him and desperate for a gesture she runs her fingers down his feathery hair. She thinks that he notices. She feels his countenance soften.

Grave sits down on the couch and leans forward looking at the floor. His hair has grown a bit since they first met; it used to be a mess of black and copper plumage, menacing and enticing. Now it brushes his shoulders and the back of his neck -more enticing to her. It is now a veil of a shattered wing covering his head. She sits down next to him and pets his head with long loving strokes and waits for him to speak.

To her surprise and relief Grave crawls on top of her and she's only too happy to lie down and let him mold against her. She is careful to bury her hands as deep into his hair as she can. He undoes her hair giving her similar treatment. Touching her hair so affectionately sparks that sizzling feeling in her breasts; she wraps her arms around him and pulls him hard against her to relieve it a little. Just a little.

_Not yet, later, maybe after Saviors farewell ceremony._

"Grave what's on your mind?" She whispers into his ear with trace amounts of moaning designed to sooth him.

His bones and muscles settle and relax inside him and she knows he's been soothed. "I want to finish the report to you. I don't think it's important for them to know about this yet." Her heart leaps hearing that and her breasts keep sizzling despite the crushing.

"Oh Grave I was hoping that was it." She kisses him on the cheek and adjusts him so they are looking each other in the face. "You worry me too much when you slip away from me." She runs one finger down his cheek then his jaw then his neck accentuating her point. By the way his breathing changes she is sure that he understands her.

She makes sure their eyes are locked again. "Tell me everything"

"I already told you how she started to make me change when she had a hold of me in the clouds."

"Yeah."

"Before we went up I asked her what she wanted from me, because she seems awfully interested in me."

"Way too interested." Joselyn's eyes narrow but she doesn't say anymore than that.

"She said, 'I want my husband back.'"

Joselyn pauses for a full fifteen seconds. "Husband?" She doesn't believe it, she can't. She can feel that Grave can tell she doesn't believe it.

And she can tell that he _does_ believe it.

"She tried to kiss a section of my changed mouth, now, now." Joselyn vibrates with rage beneath Grave and though he manages to still her body her heart still throbs with supreme anger. "I didn't enjoy it. It was fucking digusting."

"No Grave," she assures him. "No, it's just that. You're mine."

The way he smiles at her makes her heart throb differently, it beats fast still but now it's comfortable. Her heart is less like a knot trying to burst open and more like throbbing jelly… and, well, other organs also.

_Down girl, after the ceremony, after the ceremony._

Grave slides up further and whispers something as he plants a soft kiss on her forehead, his thumbs are barely brushing her breasts and for once she doesn't notice, she's unsure of where his hands are.

"What?" She whispers as he slides back down and faces her again.

But he continues instead' "He was coming out. And I feel like I know now that the demon is a he for obvious reasons. She was trying to kiss him through me but I could feel he doesn't feel like she does, I'm not quite sure of this."

"What?" Joselyn asks still in that spell that his whisper put her under.

"I think it would have sooner eat her than kiss her."

Joselyn only blinks and rubs his back with one delicate hand.

"Then I heard voices inside my head, not just the growling from the demon. I heard Lich and another voice, I heard Salamander."

Grave is caught off guard by the question Joselyn chooses to ask. "What does he sound like?"

"Oh, um. Well I guess he sounds like a smart-ass."

Joselyn laughs and quirks a cute smile for him.

"Anyway Lich and Salamander got a hold of the demon and held him in place. Lich took hold of him and Salamander tried to do what the demon always does. He came out of my body and we became one body with two minds. But we didn't change completely I was still mostly myself; it wasn't until after the fall started that Salamander spoke to me. He told me to summon him so I did and the transformation finished."

"He spoke to you?" Joselyn sounds unbelieving but she does believe him, despite her tone he is sure that she believes him.

"Yeah, directly to him from his little nook in my brain."

"Grave, that's unheard of, it's like when Terra and Maduin were speaking through me but it's so much simpler and more intimate. I wonder if all of the Espers can do this and they just don't." She sounds worried, justifiably worried and he thinks he knows just what is worrying her.

"I want to think that they can. It seemed so effortless to them."

"Yeah, yeah," she says quietly, she sounds tired, more tired than he knows she really is.

"This is amazing Grave, you're probably the only person in recorded history who has ever spoken to an Esper like that."

Grave doesn't say anything to that and although she doesn't know whether he agrees with her or not she does know he would disagree that it matters.

Joselyn wraps her arms around Graves head and pushes him down her body until his face is in between her breasts. He coils his arms snugly around her waist and nuzzles his face against her, getting the spot on her shirt between her breasts wet with his tongue. She leans her head forward and kisses the top of his head; her face is tickled by whispers of black plume-like hair. She whispers something so quiet that only she could ever make it out. He looks up from the wet spot on her shirt and makes a purr-like sound of inquiry up to her, but she just shakes her head.

She knows he said it.

He knows she said it.

And yet, there is still that mystery. They know it, they feel it, but they have never concisely delivered the message with words. And they never will in fact. Part of the strength of their bond has always, and always will come from the fact that they don't need to give that confirmation…

…and the suspense from wanting to hear it anyway.

"I was going to wait until after the ceremony but I really don't think that I can." Joselyn says and pulls Grave up to face level again. She takes his hand and guides it down his pants and beneath her underwear and from there he knows precisely, what, to, do.

His fingers work their way through the white nest quickly and once he has run his finger up from the opening to her swollen clitoris she starts to suck in air so fast that her panting in of itself would be enough to wear her out. She lifts her shirt so he can mouth at her bare skin and his fingers don't stop sliding against and inside her until she decides to stop him for his fingers, though deft with her flesh are not quite enough right now.

They have never felt as close as they do now. They have never before felt so sure that they

**Quistis's Decision**

Quistis literally punches the button to shut the door from the inside of her apartment but that doesn't relieve the urge to slam the door shut. If she hits that button the same way one more time it really will jam, then she'll have to leave her room for a whole day while a maintenance fellow fixes it.

She throws her notepad and pen back to the shelf where she took it from this morning. Grave gave her not more than two paragraphs worth of information. Seven sentences of things she might have guessed without any of his input, anybody's input for that matter! He basically told her everything that was observed by everybody on the battlefield. She had essentially jotted down a copy of the notes that she made after the battle.

Quistis throws her weight onto her bed massages her temples with gentleness appropriate for the velvet gloves she wears. She is positive that Grave left something out intentionally. Something very important that may not be important to their ordeal, but most definitely important for the records kept on Espers.

Why on Gaia would he keep something that important from her? It occurs to her that he would want to tell Joselyn the details privately but that's just silly. This is remarkable, valuable information she is sure of it, it would be so unlike Grave to keep it away to consult with somebody who only knows the basic information about Espers.

Has she done something to annoy him, anger him, does he really not trust her anymore?

Something snaps in her head then and she realizes why she is really upset, the real reason, and once she realizes it she feels so silly.

She is jealous of Joselyn.

Quistis laughs at herself for a minute, very quiet, but probably on the verge of hysterics. Suddenly, with her head cleared a bit by the laughter she decides that Grave probably did do just that, that she already believed it and it had angered her.

Once Grave had nobody to turn to but her and though she is happy that he has an actual lover now she misses something that Joselyn has taken from her. Quistis used to be the one to help the student who most needed help and with Grave having Joselyn now she realizes that she has no such student anymore, she used to have Seifer but that was, ages, it seems…

As soon as she fully remembers the unbelievable events of yesterday the knock on her door that she requested sounds, and she knows what she wants to do.

"Yes?" She is not sure that it is him but she needs to know, she needs to hear him speak.

"It's me." And so it is Seifer, so it is. He sounds awfully unhappy to be here, not worried, not despaired, but annoyed. As if he really doesn't want to be with her.

"Come in, it's unlocked." She brushes the wrinkles out of her dress but makes no further efforts to tidy herself up. He wouldn't notice anyway, and this is no formal occasion.

The door shoots open and she is careful to keep her eyes away from the door, away from him until he is inside. She looks up to him once he's three feet from her and she hides very well that she is startled.

The appearance of his head she was expecting but below the neck is a surprise to her. Part of her was expecting to see the same heavy white open coat with the red crosses on the sleeves. He is wearing a lightweight red trench coat now; he wears it closed with the belt snug around his waist, the collar popped up and his two swords secured together at his left side like a samurai. One hand is in a pocket and the other is carrying a duffle bag with nasty fabric spilling out the side of it through a rip.

Quistis almost smiles at the notion of Seifer imitating a samurai in any way. Not only because his sense of honor is mostly fake –or rather it was, now it's hard to tell what he feels or believes, or who he is even- but because she knows he would never carry a weapon designated for suicide. Seifer has always been a survivor; that was one of the good things she always saw in him that gave her hope that he would be her best student.

Quistis pats the space of bedding next to her. "Sit down."

Seifer eyes that spot without any interest that she can observe then he looks to her, no shame, no sadness, not tenseness. "I've got a feeling I should stand."

"But I want you to sit down." She lets some warmth come through her voice and she knows that he feels it. But he doesn't react, and that worries her.

"You always said to trust your instincts." He tries to point out.

"But I never said that to you," she says forgetting that she should not be hitting his pride hard anymore. She pats the spot next to her again. "I want you to sit down."

She has insulted him but she doesn't think she did any damage. At first he makes no move and she's about to demand that he relax with her again when he walks to the bed and sits next to her. He sets the duffle bag down between his feet and he looks down at it as if it were a sleeping animal that he feels responsibility for.

Seifer keeps his eyes between his feet and Quistis watches the side of his face. She is looking at Seifer Almasy right now and she knows it but if he were still wearing that mask telling her who he was she would have laughed at him. She thought that Seifer was either dead or fishing somewhere in the middle of the ocean on a boat manned by six other people who would speak another language. She never would have imagined that he came back to them, she would have never imagined that he would be more important to her than a student or a sibling.

This is the same man who helped her escape a runaway truck piloted by his father when they were children. This is the man who betrayed them all three years ago, he gave in to the enemy and led attacks against them because he wanted to be somebody's romantic protector. This is the man who came back to them six months later under cover of darkness. This is the man who over the course of two and a half years saved the lives of every current active member of SeeD at least once. This is the man who just yesterday helped fend away the same devil that he sold himself too three years ago. This is the man who she had sex with in this very bed not long before that.

And she is not ashamed.

Quistis has always –or rather for as long as she has known about it- the seven year theory. Seven years is how long it takes for every cell in your body to be replaced; therefore when you are seven you have a new body from the one you were born with and so on to fourteen, twenty one and beyond. Last December Seifer turned twenty one years old and is therefore in a new body from the one he was in just three years ago. True, those two bodies are mostly similar but they are indeed different bodies. He is quite literally a different person now.

Is his betrayal absolved? To Quistis it is. If Selphie does not feel that he is absolved then that is her demon to fight but Quistis is tired of fighting with Seifer and she doesn't think there's any fighting left to do with him. She will argue with him but that is just their temperament together; it can't be helped.

Savior was the symbol of the inner Seifer, Quistis thinks. Savior was who he wanted to be and with a mask he was able to be that person. Seifer fucked up, this is true, and he will not be forgiven by everyone. He was a traitor and cost many lives in his betrayal, he is extremely rude and blunt to everybody and is basically an asshole most of the time that he spends awake. But he is a good man, he is a good protector.

And after seeing what he has done these past two and a half years, after seeing who he really is, she feels that she should be the one to fulfill his romantic dream for real.

"Are you staying?" She has been afraid to ask this ever since she woke up this morning, ever since she realized she would have to ask him sooner or later.

He says nothing for a long time but she believes he will answer her eventually and so he does. "That's up to you."

Quistis starts, that was the last thing she might have expected him to say. "You want me to decide?" She doesn't believe it, even if he tells her three more times she'll still probably not completely believe it.

Seifer adjusts his head and only his head so he can look at her with his one eye. "Yeah. The way I see it it's up to you. Xu doesn't have the authority to kick anybody out unless if somebody decides that Leonhart is never coming back." He gives her a knowing look that she knows so well and has missed for years. "And we both know that nobody is going to start thinking that about our own personal Simba." The mock to Squall does not faze her and she's not even sure if it was meant to or not.

Seifer looks away from her before he continues. "Anyway. Nobody has the authority to make me leave and I think the population of B-Garden is either too grievous after yesterday to care or they have mixed feelings and can't decide what they want me to do. Nobody has the authority to get rid of me, and well…"

"Yes?" Finish damn you finish!

"Well." Seifer runs a hand through his hair and she can see his face very well from the side. "I think that you're the only person in Garden who has any interest in whether I stay or go. For… obvious reasons."

_If this bed could talk, if this bed could talk, I know just what you mean Seifer. You think that I'm either ashamed of fucking you and never want to see you again or I want you to stay in this bed until the ceremony tonight… or perhaps you think that I want us reduced to what we were to each other before the conflict started._

"So what do you want Quistis? I'll stay for the ceremony at least but after that it's up to you. I stay and they find some new position for me, or I leave and you won't need to find out what happens to me afterward." The way he finishes that sounds too morbid for her to think about yet the thought comes to her anyway, uncontrollable and terrible the image of Seifer drowning with the fish he meant to catch spills over her eyes for an instant and she is lucky that she does not make a miserable sound for him to notice.

"I was hoping you would come to me with this proposition." She says plain and open, there is nakedness there but he doesn't seem to notice her intentional exposure.

"I thought you might."

"And I've already made up my mind. I want you to stay."

Seifer's head shoots up and he looks for a moment as if something obscene just appeared on her wall and startled him. He turns his head to look at her and must be even more surprised when he sees that she's smiling for him. "You do?" He sounds shocked, really shocked as if he had already made a plan to walk in, accept her refusal then walk out in less than five minutes; and now with such a plan ruined he is lost and doesn't know what to say, think, or do.

Quistis removes her glasses and sets them on the table next to her bed. She peels the glove from her left hand and drops it on the floor then grips his knee with her palm. He looks at her hand on his knee like a strange and wondrous thing that he's afraid to touch.

_Don't be afraid to touch me Seifer._

"And I don't want to just be your comrade either," she says with the same feeling she has been putting in everything she has said to him so far. This time he gets it.

Seifer looks at her very seriously. "You have to mean that Quistis because I don't want you to regret seeing my crippled mug around here if you're just trying to make me feel better."

Quistis matches the look that he gives her. "I want you here Seifer, and I mean that in both avenues." _I want you in this bed_.

_**L**_

Just before he moves Quistis feels him tighten beneath her palm. She feels him tense up beyond his knee that his muscles –and probably other portions of meat- stiffen beneath her touch and welcoming words. She feels him tense up so much in that instant before he springs all of that tension out in one pouncing motion.

She's not totally aware that he has smothered her lips with his until he's crushing her against her mattress. He's kissing her like he is planning to tear her lips off with his teeth and swallow him so she kisses him back the same way. He has one hand on one of her hips while the other unfastens his weapons which fall off of the bed and clatter to the floor loudly. It doesn't occur to either of them that the gunblade might go off when it hits the floor and luckily it doesn't.

While still kissing him Quistis undoes her braid with one hand and undoes his belt with the other. Finally feeling silly for trying to multitask the way they are Seifer stops kissing her and unbuttons his coat then opens it up over her so that she's cloaked beneath him. Their savage kissing commences and out of pure instinct Seifer grabs her hips and positions their groins together. He throbs and twitches against her and her insides begin dripping out of her.

It's not long before their jaws are tired and the kissing stops though the way they throb and press against each other doesn't change, or at least it does not wane. They look at each other, their faces an inch apart and Quistis is perversely tempted to pull off his eye patch to examine the wound that she's responsible for.

But her hands crawl elsewhere; down her own waist and knowing what she's intending Seifer pushes himself above her to give her space. Quistis hikes up her skirt and slides her underwear down her legs and discards them where they float down to Seifer's weapons, somehow this makes them look innocent by comparison though there are no eyes watching that spot to appreciate it.

Next she undoes his button and fly and his own garments are pushed down below his ass and she's careful to watch his loins –or is it really just loin for guys? Quistis has always pondered that- fall out into open air. She gets to see it this time; she gets to see him this time. It might sound silly to another person that she would want to see his penis since it will look hardly different from the others she has seen. But really most of the ones she has seen have been haggard or bloody or… removed during battle. Clothing burned off from a spell that didn't do well incinerating the body. She wants to see this one not only because it is hers now, but because it is healthy, it is twitching and living for her.

She need not guide him because he can guide himself, she only wraps her legs around his waist and grips his ass beneath his coat to encourage him and it does, it does, he slips inside her with even less effort than the first time. His familiar shape, every little bump relieves that aching cavity and she arches up to him and moans against his chest. He reclaims her hips and rolls her down to her back again and he pushes himself in her harder.

It's no wonder; their first time together was planned. The mystery about his identity and how she would feel if she knew it made them shyer. This is spur of the moment and the secret is out. Their movement is erratic and wild and careless, neither can think of anything but the pleasure.

When Quistis arches her lower body and starts pushing against him it is decided that neither will last more than another minute. In fact it's less than sixty seconds of that and they are both spent and panting. Quistis's wrapped shirt is loosened and exposing one nipple and Seifer's eye patch is crooked on his face like a broken pair of glasses.

Seifer is still erect and half of him is still inside of her but she can't bring herself to push him down. She has one leg still wrapped around his waist, they're cheek to cheek, accumulating sex warmth blanketed under Seifer's long coat.

"Seifer," she doesn't whisper but she's not too loud for him, at first he doesn't react and she thinks he might have passed out.

An idea occurs to Quistis and she smiles a large smile that she thinks he feels if he is actually not asleep now. She slips her hand from his shoulder to his butt and she pulls him closer to her.

Just as she expected Seifer thrusts again slowly but steady and he lifts his head, they look at each other and he is matching her smile. She might have never thought that Seifer would look at her like that, that she would ever want him to, or look back the same way. Before the mask came off she might have never thought she would want this.

She manages to enunciate her gasp into words. "Now you have to stay."

His smile enlarges and she sees much of his old familiar arrogance spill into it. She doesn't mind. She knows she's not with the same stupid teenager that betrayed them all even though he looks similar. She tightens her legs around him again and they fuck happily, and slower than they did before.

_**L EG**_

They decide it's time to stop when their parts are pink with soreness and slightly dry from friction. Quistis braids her hair and re-wraps her shirt, puts on a different pair of underwear and places her glasses back on her face. Seifer throws his trench coat over the chair he sits in and adjusts his eye patch. Quistis makes a pot of coffee and Seifer starts drinking his before it stops steaming. They are drinking the stuff more out of habit than anything else. The only obligation they have tonight is the ceremony and that will not be so late they will really need caffeine.

Seifer doesn't need any encouragement. He starts talking after his first quaff of coffee, and he gives her what Grave did not.

At the end of yesterday's battle the only person to approach Seifer was Quistis. His back was turned to his comrades, to his home; he kept his fiery eye on the carcass of the enemy Garden. He watched it and nothing else and its crooked distortion of a shadow fell over him as the sun set behind it. He was a blackness like no other Quistis had laid eyes on, somehow darker than the Creeps dwelling in sewers. And she would not have believed he could be darker until she saw him beneath that shadow. It was funny how a dab of darkness could stand out in a pool of other dark stuff.

Suddenly she feels that she's walking at night when she comes under the twisted shadow. She walks alone to him just as she should. Those who are not close to either of them are going back to the Garden now. Those who are close to her are watching her; those who are close to him watch the two interchangeably.

She doesn't make any sound, none that she can detect at any rate. She hears only this sound of smoldering flames. But, but it is not just that. The sound of fire is natural, even magic fire creates the normal whoosh and crackle. This sound is buzzing, the sound of profound electricity creating flames without anything to erupt. Not only is it magic that should not exist to begin with, but it should not be something that can be controlled.

When she's behind him and she feels the sound resonate in her she knows it's his eye and not his sword. The sword is a silent concentration of pure destruction held in one place by the shape of his weapon. The eye blazes with unnatural power and profound emotion that she can't put her finger on…

Or perhaps, perhaps it's the absence of an emotion.

"Seifer?" She asked and he turned around at once, obedient.

And she knew it was obedience because she felt it. She felt him giving off pup-like devotion for her in waves of energy.

As he watched her, as that eye looked at her she felt it bore into her eyes, her mind, her heart, like a blazing drill headed worm. And she knew that like the red energy in his weapon this unnatural fire was also pure destruction but of a different nature. The sword is Fire Cross; it is the embodiment of his spirits destructive power. But the eye is different; the eye is evil power making up for the absence of something.

"Seifer?" She asks again and he nods obediently which causes the internal argument in her. She saw him, she _sees_ him, she feels it is indeed Seifer but that obedience is not him. He would not nod to her a second time, he would mock her, he would laugh derisively. Hyne! What is she thinking? He'd probably not have even turned around the first time!

He mouths something; he can't speak like this, 'Hey Quis.'

_Hey sis._

She can't stop that thought or that memory in her head; she just lets it pass knowing what it means and knowing that she's feeling something unsavory.

_I am not this mans sister and I don't want to be._

"It's been you this whole time." She feels she needs to say it out loud, it's obvious, it's just the sort of thing he would normally mock her to death for but he's not doing that now and she feels like it just has to be said, it has to be said or else it will not feel like reality.

He nods again, the fire eye seems to begin to close and though the fire looks smaller it has the same intensity. Pure, green, foul destruction blazing inside his skull; controlled yet wild.

Quistis said this, she did not hesitate and she meant it with all of her heart. "I'm proud of you Seifer."

And the flame went out.

His sword dimmed until it was a just a metal shape in his hand -apparently it was permanently shaped that way now. The blackness over his skin became grayer; his features beneath it became more pronounced. She jumps when the gaping hole in his head where his eye patch belongs pops out and she reads disappointment on his face.

Through the tear of the blackness on his face Quistis sees his eye patch. The blackness flaps attached to his face and now that it's peeling it looks just like thin paper. Bits of it fall prey to the wind and presumably disappear and become nothing.

Shocked though she is Quistis is allured by the idea of touching him now. She knows that she's responsible for this. Somehow she knows that if she had stayed away from him he would still be the fearsome demonic thing but she's doing something to him, she can make this impurity go away; vanish, fall away from him.

Officially compelled, Quistis steps forward and touches Seifer's eye patch. She touches that spot that has always been kept from her by distorted plastic and she's perversely pleased by it, triumphant. She brushes her fingers in the direction of his remaining eye and the grayness needs the encouragement to fall away from him. It's like rice paper coming away from something dry.

She brushes his face and this sends a wave of whatever it is she is giving him to ripple through the gray substance and all of it covering his head falls away in big fluttering pieces. She sees Seifer's face again for the second time that day, she really sees him.

She really sees him for the first time.

The rest of the stuff fell off without any effort on her part. Seifer simply stretched and shook until the rest of it fell away and after a few seconds it seemed that the stuff simply vanished. There is no evidence, no proof that it existed except for their eye witness.

Quistis needs to know, why did this happen, why does she have this affect on him and why does it happen to him to begin with?

And he tells her everything.

**Final Visions**

_**Squall remembers when this was and what he must have been doing at the time. It was six months after the second sorceress war, perhaps five months after lost students had been retrieved and new ones recruited. He remembers that Fujin and Raijin were among them and somehow he feels this is important to remember.**_

_**Balamb Garden was docked at Fisherman's Horizon during a storm and the rain was amazing. Squall remembers that he was in his office regretting having made the trip because the whelps had not yet been invented so they were literally traveling hundreds –it might have been thousands of miles- for one man.**_

_**Of course he would later decide the trip was worth it for they had come all this way to pick up the man who would become Savior. Balamb Garden's greatest body guard. His phantom presence is standing on the dock where Savior would be picked up; Xu is standing at the open entrance dressed primly in a rain coat with a flashlight in her hand to identify the individual when he arrives. Although his body is not being harmed by it Squall can feel the cold and the force the rain pelts with. He feels what it would have done to him had he been there.**_

_**Savior might have been in bed with pneumonia upon his instatement after walking in this rain. Squall is impressed that the man got to work right away in fine condition.**_

_**Xu casts the light across the deck looking more irritable than she usually was and also looking very unimpressed. She waits another ten minutes looking at her watch under the flashlight frequently. She was clearly doing this only because it was her job, although Squall admits he felt much the same way at the time he still had hope that the trip would be worth it. Xu looked as if she did not want him to show up at all.**_

_**Probably five or ten minutes before she was supposed to go back inside to report that the man was a no show Xu put away her flashlight and stepped inside, she shut the door behind her and turned off the light.**_

_**In that moment Squall thought that he must be seeing another false vision. This suggests that Savior was never picked up, or that he was envisioning a completely different event. But it feels like the time he was thinking of, he knows this is the time he was thinking of the same way he would know if he was really dreaming.**_

_**Something small and heavy flies past Squall as he has that thought and it strikes the button with such force that the door opens again. Xu is stopped in her tracks inside the bright dry hallway, she has created an impressive pool of water at her feet. Xu turns around shaking droplets around her feet and looks no longer annoyed or impatient, but completely disappointed. Squall laughs a laugh that only he can hear, Xu was actually upset to complete a mission.**_

"_**You're late!" Xu accuses shouting through the crashing rain. Even Squall in his supernatural state can't hear her very well.**_

_**The figure makes no reply but Squall knows his thoughts are, 'I'm early Bitch.'**_

_**Xu crosses her arms and Squall can tell she's resisting a multitude of powerful urges. Her first one is to just shut the door again and lock it then pretend he never showed up. Her second is to shoot him between the eyes and throw the body over the harbor. He can't read them all but he can tell they're all malicious.**_

"_**Display your proof of invitation." She really doesn't want to say it, her tone says instead, 'get on your knees and tear out your throat motherfucker, and try to beg for forgiveness after that.' But the figure will not be getting on his knees for anybody, not for another couple of years anyway.**_

_**He points to the object that he threw at the button and to Squall's shock Xu actually picks it up herself instead of making him do it… or jamming it down his throat. She recognizes the Garden symbol not yet changed and the signature of the latest Headmaster. She should just let him in now; all of the formalities have been either completed or deemed unimportant between these two and passed. But she still looks unsatisfied; she still thinks he shouldn't be allowed in yet. But he knows he gets in, he knows she gives in like she should.**_

_**Xu looks at his face hard with sharp hate and she asks him one question. "Why do you want to join us?" Normally Xu would wait until the person was inside and acquainted with their bed before she would ask them, 'so why did you join us?' But apparently she had to know ahead of time with this one. Squall wonders if Xu did this with anybody else.**_

_**Squall walks to the side of the figure whose face is mostly obscured by his rain coat but he can see the mouth. He doesn't answer for a long time.**_

"_**Tell me!" Xu shouts and hundreds of drops of water splash from her and to her feet, she is surrounded by almost a whole inch of water now. She sounds so irrationally hateful and demanding of such a trivial answer, something she doesn't really need to ask anybody. But it's so important with Savior, why Savior?**_

_**He still doesn't answer for a long time, the rain is still pelting hard on him and she's still inside, dripping lightly but protected form the torrent. Her arms are at her sides now and drip more as she shakes.**_

_**When he does answer he doesn't speak, he doesn't dare use his true voice even before he actually enters the Garden. He mouths one word and neither Xu nor Squall believe it, or even understand it when they see.**_

_**He mouths, 'Quistis.'**_

_**Squalls surroundings blur as he travels to another vision. It's like being caught in a tornado that you can't feel around you, like being numbed then thrown into an ether river.**_

_**He stops in a place of activity and sunlight and he knows he's in Dollet before it became ruins. He knows at once he's not about to see its devastation, Ellone is showing him something else. She's about to show him something personal that he already knows he must never speak of but to three people and if anyone else will know it is not in his authority to tell them. He feels he will know who they are later but not now, he will learn by the end of this vision.**_

_**Squall finds himself in the same street he ran from the Black Widow in on his field exam. It's bustling with more activity than he's ever seen but he's never seen it during its tourist season so this must have happened then.**_

_**Middle class people from all over the world stroll past him in both directions stomping and yakking but he hears not their words only their voices, only their dialects and emotion. He knows this is happening because he doesn't need to know what they have to say, he knows that when he begins to hear words then he will know who to follow, he will know who he's supposed to watch.**_

_**And at once he hears them. Squall spins around and sees two young boys, one is fourteen and the other is twelve and both of them are running. They run through them and Squall only has enough time to faintly recognize the elder and that the younger has an extreme facial deformation.**_

_**Squall turns around and for once feels like he needs to run during a vision. This one feels especially important and he doesn't want to miss anything that might be particularly important.**_

_**The boys make it to the beach and jump as high as they can to land their asses onto the sand. Squall is careful to catch up to them quickly and doesn't sit down when he is within hearing distance of them.**_

"_**We're gonna play our first show tomorrow night, I want you to come." The younger one says to his brother who grabs the younger one by the head and starts rubbing his limp hair back and forth. Squall has walked around them and can see just what the deformation is and it surprises him that it is not grotesque. Where his left eye would be there is just smoothness, like his eye was replaced with more of his forehead.**_

"_**Course I'll come, where're you playing?" The elder brother doesn't look surprised that the twelve year old is playing a musical show but he's happy, it seems he expected it would happen. He takes his hand out of his younger brother's hair and actually looks at him.**_

"_**Tacky's Rock House." The boy says with great pride and his brother looks at him again this time with the sort of look on his face that Squall would expect. He looks as surprised as he should be now.**_

"_**Tacky's is a bar Leo, how the hell did you get into a bar, do they even know that you're twelve?" Squall can tell the elder is not appalled but worried; he would not care if his brother was in a bar but he would care if his little brother got in trouble for something silly like being too young to walk in a public building.**_

"_**They don't care, they know I'm twelve, I just had to get mom to sign a paper that says that I won't drink anything and that she'll be there in the audience to watch me." Leo sounds proud as he says it as if it were his suggestion to create that arrangement.**_

"_**That's impressive; I guess it isn't so bad that way."**_

"_**I wanted her to be there anyway, one of the songs is for her."**_

"_**You're such a sweet little bunny," the elder says so mockingly but he sounds sweet about it, Squall has to laugh at them. They behave the way he and the orphanage gang should have behaved with each other. Instead he had to cling to Ellone like grim death then alienate the rest of them. It's a shame it's too late to spend his childhood the way he is watching these children live.**_

_**The boy Leo suddenly looks embarrassed, becoming quiet and the elder takes no notice of it. He watches the ocean and forgets what they were talking about for the time being. But he is reminded of it again soon because Leo is not quite done talking about it.**_

"_**I wrote one for you too you know." He sounds quiet and timid like he doesn't want to admit that he did it now that his elder has made fun of him for writing lyrics about their family.**_

_**The elder looks to him and looks serious and surprised again, but now he is obviously touched too. Leo sees this and looks relieved because he thinks his elder isn't going to make fun of him for that.**_

_**For he would have been crushed if his elder had done that, even if he had tried to do it good naturedly, he wants his brother to just be happy that he had written a song about him and to his luck he is rewarded just that way.**_

"_**You wrote a song for me?" He sounds a little surprised but pleased all the same. Leo smiles at him happy for the appreciation that he was fishing for.**_

"_**Yeah, and the group has agreed to play it at the end of every show we ever play no matter how bored they get with it. We might change it a little here and there over the years so people will want to get every version of it. It means a lot to me and the group thinks that it's a good marketing decision too."**_

"_**Oh, so you're rich and famous now?" He may be mocking him again but it's indeed good natured and it's about something that Leo can take mockery from. "You have to go as far as making marketing decisions." He goes on but only after he starts counting Leo's imaginary goals on his fingers beginning with the one that he ahs already stated. "Tour dates, free shows for the most devoted groupies –because my hawt twelve year old brother WILL have groupies and if he doesn't treat them well then I will smack him upside the head with a crowbar- and let's not forget the merchandise, Hyne!" He begins counting on his other finger. "CD's LP's Vynil T-Shirts action figures-"**_

"_**That's enough of that." Leo says as he imitates his brother rubbing said elders hair with one smaller hand to give him the same treatment he gave Leo. "Seriously though, it's the first time we're ever playing and I want you to hear it at least once." Leo takes his hand out of his brothers hair who shakes it back into its original attractive brown mess.**_

_**His brother turns affectionate and serious. "Tell you what, every time I see you play, and every time I happen upon something playing that song, I'll stop and listen to it. And I'll collect every different version that you make available of it."**_

_**Leo looks proud and appraising to his brother and he doesn't need to say a word about it, his look says it all so he says something else. "We're going to have to make a whole bunch of singles then. If we're going to play it at every show then it's probably going to change an awful lot."**_

"_**Yup, and it'll be your best song of course so your best of album is just going to be between twelve and sixteen different versions of that song." They laugh again and give each other gentle fist pushes in the arms and their talk becomes blurry like everybody else, Squall knows that the scene will shift before he gets caught in that painless vacuum yet again.**_

_**When it stops Squall finds himself with his head sticking out of the roof of a car. He watches the wind and the countryside pass by at high speeds and he knows by his surroundings that he is on the road on the way to Dollet. Squall sits down and at once he sees the interior of the car, he's happy that he's sitting in an open seat and able to hear the people talking without having to sit on the floor with their feet sticking into him. He would not feel it but it still bothers him.**_

_**It is a four seat cab much like the ones that B-Garden once used before it became airborne and depended on the Whelps. Across from him is a married couple; a very large man, bearded with shoulder length braided curls falling only down the back of his head. He looks like a gentle giant and is dressed like a gentleman. Not a nobleman, but well dressed all the same. Squall guess they're tourists with a decent amount of money to spend on a trip.**_

_**The woman beside him, his wife is as old as he is and just beautiful as her daughter. It is clear that she is her age but her prettiness is vibrant and the fact that she's loved is as an aura around her. She is all of the daintiness and delicacy of her daughter without the brazen and sharpness, no strength and no arrogance lies in this gentle flamingo of a woman.**_

_**Squall looks beside him to the one he knows is the figure of importance. The daughter is about eight inches shorter than her father and slightly taller than her mother. She is a tall slender body with small breasts and long shapely legs that are hidden beneath a skirt that falls to her ankles. The collar of her shirt is up to the base of her neck and the sleeves are billowing bags of white fabric. Her hair is blonde, waist length, and braided into a horizontal row of five braids. The hair in her face only grows on the right side and covers most of that side of her face. Her eyes are blue, pretty, and human.**_

_**This family does not talk; they will talk when they are out of the cab and can discuss what they are going to do on their trip. They have come from Timber and that was the meat of the only discussion they had at the beginning of the car ride. The father and the daughter agreed that Timber would have their independence in his lifetime, the mother and the daughter agreed that this independence would not come of the efforts of rebel factions. The mother and the father agreed that the only group other than the rebel factions that could do it were the Gardens but that the Gardens would not do anything about it. The daughter had nothing to say about this.**_

_**Squall thinks of the elder brother and this daughter and he knows that he has seen them; he knows he has spoken to them before but he never saw them like this. Something happened, something…**_

_**Ellone will show him, then he will know who they are.**_

_**Just as Squall expected they stop in Dollet and the daughter is the first one to exit the car. He chooses to watch her, her parents are only important because they are her parents, they are not terribly important to this vision.**_

_**It is night already but still bustling with just as much activity as the first part of the vision. The difference at night is that that activity is happening more inside the buildings than it was on the streets. People are playing cards upstairs, drinking downstairs and more groping is happening than her parents might have cared for. But there is plenty of music and that is what they came here for. They don't know it, but music is their destination tonight.**_

_**Except for the daughter, music is what will lead her to her destination; music will take her away from her parents and to a candlelit dinner upstairs.**_

"_**So where shall we go?" The mother has a soft pleasant voice, impossible to be angry with and agreeable.**_

_**The father looks down the street briefly and realizes that the only thing of interest to them will be the music and that he has no preference. He looks to his daughter at once and she has already begun deciding what she wants without noticing. She expected him to do that and already began deciding as soon as she looked down the street and tried to discern between the sounds, comparing the sound of one building from another as best as she can from the street.**_

_**The car is taken away to its garage and the father pays distractedly but manages to pay the right amount. "Have you decided Joselyn?" He says as if they had said out loud that she would be the one to decide where to go.**_

"_**That one," Joselyn points to a sign three doors away from where they stand, and as Squall might have predicted the sign says, 'Tacky's.' Her parents don't make faces about it but they don't really look excited either. They brighten though when she turns to them to see what they think and they nod approval.**_

"_**Cool," she says happily and begins to stride to the bar about ten paces away from her parents. Joselyn enters the place without really realizing that it's a bar, and to her luck tonight it really is not going to matter. Squall lags behind for a moment for her can still make out the words of the parents.**_

"_**Does Joselyn realize that's a bar?" The mother asks sounding worried and Squall feels sorry for her as if by magic.**_

"_**Oh, our little girl has never been kicked out of a bar before to my knowledge, it'll be good for her." He sounds good natured but Squall can tell that the mother is still not happy, but his interest in that fades quickly because their words become non-existent and have therefore become unimportant.**_

_**Squall hurries into the bar and he is surprised that Joselyn has already found a seat and is not being harassed. Quickly though he notices why and he is very amused when he sees the sign. He was not expecting this, not at all.**_

_**The sign declares (Tonight is kid's night! All drinks have been locked up on the second floor for tonight only to legally accommodate tonight's entertainment. Tacky's presents 'Black Blood Vessel,' underage music at its best!) Squall would like to see the looks on the faces of Joselyn's parents but he must follow her for now. There will be plenty of entertainment when he gets back home, he is sure.**_

_**The bar is a small place and Squall can tell that everything was spruced up and rearranged for the show. The walls are a dark wood and the floor matches it. The walls have no paintings and he imagines that on a normal night the selection behind the bar would be various and less than barren. The tables that would normally litter the place are stacked and collected in one corner and the chairs have been rearranged to form an audience seating. There is one aisle in the middle leading directly to the stage which is currently empty.**_

_**Joselyn has selected a seat on the aisle and is watching the stage intently. Others are still standing and getting food and non-alcoholic drink but she is uninterested. She is here for the show and for the show she shall sit.**_

_**Squall chooses to stand.**_

_**At first there are only a dozen people but in about fifteen minutes the non-bar is filled with a small crowd, a crowd just big enough to fit comfortably. When the room is full in steps the elder brother that Squall recognizes and he takes the only remaining seat, the aisle seat across from Joselyn's. They don't notice each other at first, but they will, Squall knows they will.**_

_**And for some perverse reason he finds himself wanting them to notice each other.**_

_**The band members show up on stage one by one and the crowd starts the mandatory pre-show cheering. The instruments were already set on the stage with the proper settings and volumes for the first song inputted so they simply go to their designated spots on the stage and ready their instruments. The singer is the last one to step up and at once everybody understands why tonight is kid's night.**_

_**The bar is filled with tourists; really there are only a handful of locals because this bar is normally treated like a bar. It is unusual –and to many obnoxious- that this happen here. So only a few people in this bar know the singer has an extreme facial deformation, this must be why the boy has tried awfully hard tonight to conceal it with his hair.**_

_**Leo has a haircut Squall recalls the other students calling 'emo' but he has gone so far as to slick it with hair gel to hold it all in place. It looks like he's trying to imitate Joselyn by covering up a whole section of his face with hair. His elder looks rather worried about him but he's not about to say anything.**_

_**The clapping dies down and of course the last one to stop is the elder brother and that is what does it. Natural curiosity draws Joselyn's eyes to the seat across from hers and she sees him for the first time. Her eyes go back to the stage then to the elder brother again and she sees the similarities, she guesses that they are related. She smiles for him for the first time but he doesn't get to see it. It doesn't seem so important yet to her either, so she looks back to the stage with thoughts of the boy besides her tickling in the back of her brain already.**_

_**The show begins with a pleasant diminished melody that could repel no one. The drummer creeps in without being imposing and the bassist comes in third so naturally that nobody notices that he began until a minute into the song. Then the first unpleasant thing happens and the singer does nothing for a full minute and a half making the audience impatient.**_

_**He has no stage fright though, that is just how the song goes, but he senses their impatience and almost begins before he is supposed to. But he is patient; he will win over the audience by waiting when they cannot.**_

_**When he does begin to sing everybody forgets their impatience and the elder brothers pride swells like a helium balloon. He leans back in his chair feeling he is entitled to relax more than anybody else being the brother of the center of attention. Squall can tell by looking at him that he feels he will float out of his chair and hit the ceiling from his happiness.**_

_**The motion and the sound of a creaking wooden chair draws Joselyn's eyes back to the elder brother again and she smiles irresistibly.**_

_**The song is dark but not invasive and even the old people are managing to enjoy it. Joselyn's parents are happier about coming in here than they had expected to. Squall can't tell what depressing thing it is the boy is singing about but he can tell he has romanticized it. It is not disgusting to Squall, but there is something about it that strikes him as unrealistic.**_

_**Nobody in this audience seems to really care though; they are all just enjoying the music.**_

_**Squall relives a night that was never his for nearly an hour but the moment of significance in this bar comes to pass. The band chose to play none of their imposing sounding songs and the audience has been won, it will not be the first time they play a show leaving the whole audience feeling satisfied. The singer actually looks at the audience for the first time that night and they can tell before he begins that he is only going to speak and not sing.**_

"_**This last song is for my brother, I hope you enjoyed the show, thanks for coming." He sounds awfully shy and to some he sounds suspicious. His singing makes him sound proud and fearless but when he speaks he becomes timid. A number of people in the audience think he's faking it but not enough for it to ever matter. The final song of the night begins much the same way the first one did and the audience waits to anticipate the lyrics they are aware are dedicated to somebody.**_

"_**When I was born I saw the world the same as everyone does,**_

_**When I grew I felt the same feelings but knew I was different because…**_

… _**Because I've a clean slate where I don't need one,**_

_**I'm blamed and I'm shamed and I'm cussed."**_

_**The chords change and the chorus begins and even Squall is compelled to listen.**_

"_**When I'm weak and need strong arms for rest I want my father,**_

_**When I'm hurt and bleeding free, I'm sick I want my mother,**_

_**But when I'm confused or mad or ashamed,**_

_**I'll always want my brother"**_

_**Joselyn looks back to the elder and somehow she can tell this song is about him.**_

_**It is a well known fact that when you don't know somebody you can romanticize them any way you like. Before you have met them they can be the person who you want most, somebody imaginary. The person you talk to when you are alone, the person who you have sex with in your fantasies. Squall can tell that Joselyn has fallen prey to this feeling with the elder brother and hearing this song has only made it more profound. Right now he is perfect to her.**_

_**Right now she wants him too.**_

_**As the song finishes Joselyn is only distantly interested in the band as fond of them as she is. She claps at the appropriate times and she hears the lyrics but her attention is mostly focused on the cute boy sitting across from her. Talking to him has become her goal for the night. She knows she will regret it if she doesn't get to meet him.**_

_**When the song is over the band stays only for the last of the applause and before it can die down completely they leave the stage. They allow for the audience to start filtering out or talking amongst themselves before they walk out and greet their loved ones for congratulations.**_

_**Joselyn feels torn when she watches the elder brother walk down the aisle to greet the singer, she wants very badly to talk to him but at the same time she feels she would be interrupting them, being rude. If she were going to talk to him at all she would want to attract this boy so she would not want to just ruin her chances right from the start. And then she has her parents to think about, she can't just walk back to them and say, 'Sorry folks but I saw a cute boy and I want to talk to him, do you think you two could just go back to the hotel and take a chance to make love while I'm not around?'**_

_**Squall anticipates that Joselyn will be surprised. He feels all things that are relevant to the vision, and so he feels the intent of her parents as they come to her. Squall steps forward knowing he still dislikes the idea of being walked through and he turns around to see Joselyn's face for he knows there will be a look there that even he will not want to miss.**_

_**Just as Joselyn is thinking that torn thought the hand of her father rests on her shoulder and she looks up to him suddenly without the appropriate hope, but a small yet detectable dollop of despair. Her father is smiling down on her and if Squall is not mistaken –which he could not be in such a vision- he has an idea of what she is disappointed by. It's not entirely accurate; her parents think she wants to meet the band.**_

_**He is sure this will be close enough for her.**_

"_**We can tell you're not ready to leave yet darling, we'll go to the hotel and won't expect you until late." The mother thinks to add, 'Is that okay Joselyn?' but decides that would be too much. For Joselyn it would have been, Squall can feel that. He is starting to feel thanks from Joselyn that he is not sure are entirely appropriate to be aware of in fact.**_

"_**Um," Joselyn is both happy and surprised and she almost says the contrary just to have a sense of reality again but she is smart and decides against that. "Yeah dad, yeah that would be great, thank you." Squall can feel great happiness and gratitude from her parents, somehow he can tell they can't remember the last time she thanked them and they are delighted to hear it again. She is freshly a teenager after all, Squall supposes.**_

"_**We'll probably not talk again until tomorrow; don't feel any pressure to come back before dark." Squall feels that the mother thinks that the father has taken this gesture too far but it does not show, he can tell Joselyn can't detect this though he feels its despairing potency.**_

_**The mother has a profoundly bad feeling about it but against her better judgment she makes no move, makes no gesture or sound against the gesture.**_

_**Because she wants so much for her daughter to have what she wants.**_

"_**We love you dear." The mother adds quickly showing a little of her unexplainable despair but neither the father nor the daughter understand that her feeling is as bad as it is. "Be careful and have a good time." The mother guides Joselyn to her feet and gives her a loving parental hug. The father follows her example and is careful to give their daughter the same ample squeeze as the mother does.**_

"_**Thanks you two!" She says overjoyed and walks brazenly to the stage skipping a little bit.**_

_**The parents watch her briefly and leave the bar arm in arm to the hotel they booked before traveling to Dollet. Their leaving the bar this way seems uncomfortable and final to Squall. But that feeling vanishes as soon as they are gone and are no longer relevant to the vision. As soon as this feeling disappears Squall knows he must follow Joselyn again and so he does.**_

_**The bar is mostly empty at this point and the rest of the band members have gone. The only one left is the singer and he sits on the edge of the stage with his brother next to him. Joselyn doubts that the singer feels ashamed right now but must want his brother with him for a similar reason or a reason that shares the same baser emotion as shame.**_

_**Embarrassment hits her like a brick to her chest when she has come within five feet of them and she realizes she doesn't know what to say. She's not even sure what she wants exactly-**_

_**(And a tiny bit of her screams to Squall and whispers to Joselyn herself HIM; I WANT HIM TO BE MINE!)**_

_**-and therefore she doesn't know what to say to go about getting what she wants. Her embarrassment turns to childish fear when they look at her. Although they appear interrupted they are instantly fascinated by the gorgeous girl who clearly needs their attention. The combination of her beauty and interest has their eyes imploring her, the elder brother in particular.**_

_**She caught them in a brotherly moment of the elder ruffling the younger ones hair and the younger one trying to push him with arms too short to get his hand out of his hair. It is partially due to fear because he doesn't want his hair ruffled to expose the flatness he hides but he is also amused. He is relieved when this girl stops the hair ruffling.**_

_**She can tell they are expecting the first word to come from her and she scrambles in her brain far longer than she should to find that, "hello," she says timidly, timid-ness so great it deceives the brothers of her true nature.**_

"_**Hi," they say together although the elder speaks slower so he begins saying, 'hi.' before Leo and stops after Leo. Leo does not miss this.**_

"_**Um," Joselyn is embarrassed and disappointed in herself for saying 'um' for her first impression but it's too late now, too late, have to move on and do it fast. "That was a remarkable show; you're awfully good for being so young." Her bravery comes back to her and the elder brother likes her more to sense her true nature, and for complimenting Leo for whom he is proud. "I just thought it would be cool to meet you." Her eyes dart to the elder the instant after she says that and the elder misses it, but Leo doesn't miss this either.**_

_**But he isn't going to act right away because he has for the first time –not the last time- been approached by a pretty young girl after a show. This is the first pretty young girl and his first show, and since he knows this pretty young girl will not be his then he must milk what pleasantries he can from this moment before he leaves.**_

"_**Thanks a lot." Leo says feeling so excited that he is being praised by somebody who is not family. "I'm happy to hear praise from a stranger." He points one thumb to his elder brother. "This guy says that's the sign that I'm really good, thank you."**_

_**Joselyn nods to him happily but thinks of nothing to say beyond that. She seems awkward suddenly and Leo knows just what to do, he may have not spent much time in his milking but he does believe he will bring home a full bucket of praise tonight and he will sleep well with it warm in his belly. Now is the time to exit stage left.**_

_**Leo grabs his elder by the back of the neck and forces him off the stage and almost into the arms of the pretty girl who has praised him about as well as his brother. The elder looks back to him puzzled and yet, there is a little sparkle in his eye that is gratefulness and Leo does not miss that either.**_

_**The Cyclops has better vision than the two eyed ones perhaps.**_

"_**Introduce yourself bro', I think she likes ya.'" Leo wiggles his single eyebrow then leaps from the stage and makes leaps and bounds like a small two legged antelope out the door; laughing like a Christmas elf.**_

_**There are still others lingering in the bar but it's as if the teenagers are alone already. They look after the door as if; a jester manifested from the stage then began throwing condoms and other party favors all over the place then storming out with crazed abandon.**_

_**And though that feeling does not subside at once they look to each other again and begin what will become getting what they want so much. When they will begin a relationship which will, arguably, never happen.**_

"_**Hi," she repeats still sounding bewildered but her focus will grow with her interest and both of them can tell that it will. "My name is Joselyn Abgestossen." She reaches for his hand and he gives her a proper greeting, a handshake firm enough that she is comfortable with but doesn't hurt her.**_

"_**Rafer Rallis. And the crazy little imp that just ran out is Leo Rallis." He calls his brother and imp affectionately and he earns a giggle from Joselyn that is cute but not air-headed. This girl is smart, he can feel it.**_

_**Squall can feel it too.**_

"_**So," she says to imply she wants him to say something more substantial than 'so.'**_

"_**So," he says disappointing both of them a bit but not leaving them without hope.**_

_**Joselyn decides she'll have to be a little imposing with this boy. He is cute but he is just as shy so she must work up the guts to say something more, something like- "I don't want to sound slutty." She says abruptly heavily implying that she has more to say but feels awfully nervous.**_

"_**You won't." He assures her with unmistakable kindness and honesty and she feels at once that despite her nervousness she will be able to say it without feeling what she fears to feel.**_

"_**I'd like to be alone you know?" She is not implying sex and he knows that, he somehow can tell what she means and he is not disappointed she isn't eager to sleep with him already.**_

"_**I know just the place, you hungry? I know the cooks, they could make us something." He sounds so enthusiastic that she can't refuse him; she wouldn't want to refuse him even if she were full already.**_

_**His smile is so bright she knows if she loved him already she would become aroused just to see it. "Great." He gestures to a stairway leading upstairs with his head. "Just go up there, you'll have to light some candles though 'cause the electricity doesn't work up there."**_

"_**I like candle light," she says with the low voice of a lover and Rafer doesn't need to be in love to be aroused by this girl's voice.**_

_**He looks happily embarrassed now and she loves it. "Well, I'll uh, I'll go get some food." He leaves her sight and goes into the back room forbidden to the public, she knows that she's being silly –Squall doesn't think it's silly, really she just thinks she's being silly- but she's disappointed that he doesn't look back to her before he goes in there.**_

_**Maybe he would have looked if you didn't look? Perhaps he can sense when he's being watched as if he had ultra powerful senses?**_

_**Joselyn shakes her head. He will make up for it; it's only an accidental faux pa after all. Joselyn starts to the stairs and walks up them without worry of tripping as she crosses the dark threshold halfway up to the second level of the building.**_

_**When she's up there she sees well enough because the room is filled with moonlight. She sees a small table and two chairs in the center of the room. There is already a half melted candle in a medieval candleholder in the center of the table. The rest of the table leaves enough room for at least two small plates of food, four at the most. She does hope that nobody else comes up, nobody else uncooked anyway.**_

_**Joselyn approaches the table and finds an old dusty lighter next to the candle. The dust and wear on it makes it look so ancient that it doesn't look unusual next to the medieval candle holder. They might have been from the same time period had barbarians been the ones to invent plastic.**_

_**She picks it up, dusts it off –which does nothing to make it look newer than the old artifact- and she tests it. It lights on the first try to her surprise, it makes a pretty unpleasant noise and it feels that it might break in her hands but it makes a fine working flame which doesn't go out at once. She lights the candle with more difficulty than it took to use the lighter but she lights it, and it stays bright.**_

_**Joselyn sets the lighter down then sits down on the seat that will allow her to see Rafer as he walks up the stairs with the food. Rafer is still the imaginary lover of perfection since he has done nothing terribly wrong yet. Some of the good things she imagined turned out to be reality as she spoke with him, and he seems real now that they have spoken. The biggest difference is he's now an imaginary lover of perfection with a name.**_

_**Rafer Rallis, she likes it.**_

"_**I like that name," she whispers across the candlelight which flaps and flickers but does not go out.**_

_**The sound of the steps creaking comes sooner than she expected and the delicacy he walks up them with sounds like a gesture her new friend would give. He probably doesn't want to make so much obnoxious noise around her, and probably doesn't want other people detecting that the room upstairs is being used. Alone, all alone.**_

_**That would feel perfect.**_

_**She can smell the food before he's even come all the way up the stairs and she's even more delighted that she did this because she realizes suddenly that she's famished. She smells shrimp, and she smells gumbo, that can only mean one thing.**_

"_**I hope that you like shrimp gumbo, they made me take it because they already made it." Something in him sounds disappointed because he wanted to serve her something fresher. Joselyn can tell and knows she must show him that she doesn't mind.**_

"_**Give," she demands politely and holds out her hands to welcome the bowl. Rafer hands her the food and as he sits down she gives him the delight that he wanted as he observes that the bowl is already one quarter of the way empty.**_

"_**Whoa, hungry at all?" He asks a little alarmed by the speed she eats but not disgusted.**_

_**Joselyn swallows and pauses in her wolfing. "Yes, thank you. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I smelled this." She continues eating and Rafer follows her example though only managing to consume the soup half as fast as she does.**_

_**The bowl is nearly empty when she stops and sits back in her chair, leaning back with one hand on her belly and looking serene. Rafer is half finished and equally full but he doesn't push the soup away thinking that Joselyn will probably eat it if it comes any closer to her.**_

_**Joselyn looks up to Rafer looking happy satisfied and accidentally seductive. "That was wonderful, how do you know the cooks?" Beneath the table Joselyn tugs on her skirt nervously worrying that too much leg is showing out of his sight.**_

"_**I'm one of them." He takes in the look of delighted surprise she shows involuntarily. "I didn't make this stuff but I do know how too, I've been working here for a couple of months."**_

"_**I appreciate a man who can cook," she says with intimacy slipping into her tone that she didn't mean to let out.**_

"_**I'm glad." He stops, saying a half sentence without having the other half in mind yet. She waits for him to finish but he doesn't and she allows the moment to pass without further awkwardness. She lets him come up with another subject to save face for her.**_

"_**What are you doing in Dollet? I know that you don't live here." He worries that harshness will slip out when he says that because he feels none but has a bad habit of letting such a tone out uncontrollably. She doesn't look insulted when she answers, good.**_

_**She nods and he imagines the eye he cannot see blinking simultaneously with the other one. "I'm from Timber playing tourist with my parents. We come here every year when the festival happens." Joselyn looks to him musing curiosity. "I don't think I've ever seen you here before though." She taps her chin and he is tempted suddenly to kiss it, perhaps because it is so close to her mouth without being her mouth.**_

"_**I don't think I've ever seen you before either," he gestures to himself. "Makes sense you haven't noticed me 'cause I look pretty unremarkable." He gestures to her. "You though," and he does it again but this time he knows what to say, this time he is just suddenly embarrassed.**_

_**And this time she is not going to let him get away with it. "Yes?" She says intentionally adding the element of intimacy this time.**_

_**He pauses embarrassed but she knows that he will say it, he stalls for a long time but she is patient and eventually she reaps her reward. "You look remarkable."**_

_**Her heart swells with blood and hormones and the first sneaky trickles of love. She decides at once that she needs to fish for a greater compliment yet. "Oh, I'm just a skinny blonde." She says degradingly which Squall can feel angers Rafer the slightest bit.**_

"_**That's not true." He doesn't say it loudly but he is outraged and she decides then that she should not take this too far. "I think that you stand out a lot." He sounds indignant, like he'd wasted his compliment.**_

_**She smiles looking very embarrassed but her brazen is stronger and shines through much more. "How so?" She asks happily with hesitation that is only just noticeable.**_

"_**Well for one thing you're really tall. Tall girls are hard to find."**_

"_**Hmm," she sounds unimpressed and is.**_

"_**And the way your hair cover your face looks natural, that stands out a whole lot."**_

"_**You think so?" She asks happily, the embarrassment trickling away to nothing.**_

"_**Yeah, I think you're gorgeous." He's says, stating more than fact.**_

_**It's impossible for her to not smile for him and suddenly he wants those lips more than ever. Squall feels a bit confused as he feels this, this emotion contrary to Rafer's words welling up in him. But it is all clarified when that emotion wells up so high that it simply spouts of his mouth as the truth.**_

"_**Okay, I lied." He says sounding defeated and Joselyn is crushed and confused so she doesn't know whether to stab him in the eye with the candle or collapse with an irreversible depression.**_

"_**About what?" She asks outraged, almost yelling.**_

"_**I have seen you before," he whispers but she hears him, and she is no longer crushed or confused but the high of being called gorgeous is being replaced by something more profound, something ambiguous…**_

_**And it is that ambiguity that makes him no longer that imaginary lover of perfection, but somebody real, and the logical part of Joselyn becomes more attracted to him because of this.**_

_**HE IS REAL AND HE IS GOOD.**_

"_**When?" She asks in a whisper.**_

"_**For as long as I can remember," he matches her whisper audibly; timid contrary to what is his normal nature. "I've watched you grow up and I've always wanted to be around you, but I always thought that if I just came up to you then you would disappoint me somehow." He is watching his feet devoutly and she wishes he would not; she wants to see his face.**_

_**She is hurt by what he said and rightfully so but she won't be haughty in the face of insult. "Why's that?"**_

_**He looks up to her without moving his head back up, he only moves his eyes up to her and looks through his attractively messy brown hair. "Because you seem perfect, and I don't think that anybody ever is."**_

_**As she hears these words she knows that normally it would be stupid to believe them. Coming from somebody else she would identify that the person would just be trying to use her emotions to seduce her but Rafer has something. His honesty is impossible to question. She must trust him.**_

_**And Squall knows that she is right to trust him.**_

_**The night rolls on and Squall can't understand them anymore but he knows that he must be nowhere else and his vision does not shift. He watches the young lovers speak things that he is never allowed to hear and has no need to hear anyway. He watches them admire each other over the candlelight. He watches them almost kiss when they say goodbye. Then he can hear them again, just for a minute before they part ways.**_

"_**My family and I are going to Timber in a couple of months for some activist get together." Joselyn takes this in stride so Squall assumes that during the time he could not hear them they established for each other that they both come from activist families "Do you want to meet up again then?"**_

_**Joselyn nods happy that he mentioned it. "I know the one you're talking about. I'm sure we could slip away and be alone like this again, the food won't be as good but that's okay." Joselyn grabs Rafer's hand and squeezes it as though they are already close –they are, but as if they have been close for years rather than just a few hours- "You're a great host Rafer, I want to see you again." She kisses him on the forehead then and he cannot shut his eyes for it, he simply can't.**_

_**Instead of replying he looks up to her and she smiles down on him. He squeezes back and stands on his toes to kiss her cheek, she turns her head for him knowing he's aiming for her cheek and she receives the kiss more gracefully than he received hers. They look to each other again as they walk to the stairs hand in hand like young lovers already.**_

_**It's so awkward and cute how they look to each other in turn when the other doesn't think the other is looking. When they catch each other playing leer tag at the top of the stairs they laugh, quiet, unashamed laughter that is meant to prelude something, when one laughs in such a way to say –this is not over yet.**_

_**Rafer is the one to be brazen this time and Joselyn appreciates it. He takes her attention by reaching up to her cheek, he leans up and she slouches down to him and they kiss for the first time, their real first kiss and it is a long one. Long and amateur and clumsily wonderful, it seems to last one minute to them when Squall realizes it has actually been ten.**_

_**Something in Squall admires them. If only it could always be this simple, if only, if only.**_

_**Then the scene shifts, and at once he is reminded that this is not simple at all.**_

_**He is in the car with Joselyn and her parents again, nobody is speaking and all three are occupied either by their own laps or the window. Joselyn is looking out the window away from Dollet for looking to Dollet is not an option. It feels wrong that she can't look to where he is. If only she didn't have to be driving away from that sweet boy.**_

_**Then Squall feels so much pity when he sees the first golden spark slither around her. Just as with him it starts by creeping into existence and then all at once it's an unstoppable flash and they are both taken away from the car. The parents are gone; he knows not how they reacted or how the car was affected.**_

_**What Squall sees next scares him, it really scares him.**_

_**They are nowhere just as when he met Hyne. Joselyn does not know where she is and screams for her parents, and more painful to hear than that is how she cries for Rafer, already she relies on him and calls to him when she is helpless. This is when he is scared, this is when he is shocked.**_

_**From nowhere, ghostly apparitions of Fujin and Seifer fly to Joselyn like rags caught in the wind. He knows that these are only the tiniest pieces of them but to Joselyn they will be very much, they will be profound transformation. The fragments of those souls, those bodies those personalities clash into Joselyn and she becomes a vaguely human shaped chaos of energy, of three different people though she remains supreme for she is the only soul that is whole.**_

_**She kicks and writhes and changes and Squall understands so much when he finally sees her again, when the energy lifts off of her like smoke and her newness is bare. Her skin has gone fairer, her hair white, and her eyes are now green, two different colors. She is bitterer, more arrogant, more longing, and she remembers almost nothing of her former life. She will remember what she likes and dislikes, she will remember her name. But she will not remember her history or her family.**_

_**As if she had been suspended in a bag six feet above the ground she falls back into reality and lands in snow. Squall looks up to the walkway leading the Trabia Garden ruins where the mysterious fallen girl is located at once.**_

_**The scene shifts once again as the cadets run to Joselyn and he knows that she will be safe.**_

_**He is on the beach again, Rafer is alone and watching the sun set without his brother, he expects his brother to show up any minute.**_

_**But he will not show up soon enough, Squall knows.**_

_**Just as Squall feels Leo coming Rafer explodes into a flash of golden light so much more abrupt than Joselyn's and they are in the void again. This time Squall feels it, in the distance he feels what he did not feel then, a little piece of himself coming away like a flake of dry skin from the onion, and he sees it. Rafer does not have the time to react that Joselyn did, he is assaulted at once by the fragments of Squall and Rinoa, and he is changed. His skin is lighter, his hair a mess of copper and black.**_

_**But it isn't over, Squall knows, it can't be, for he still looks as though he is alive.**_

_**Rafer does not drop as Joselyn did; he simply is lying down on the cosmic stone when they come to the place where Rafer is left. And Squall knows at once that Rafer is much worse off than Joselyn was.**_

_**And somehow he knows that Joselyn was not intentional, somehow he knows that she was an accident and Rafer was the one who was meant to be taken.**_

"_**Pity," that voice, deeply and abidingly disappointed, the room quivers on a molecular level against the sound waves of her voice as if the very room fears her. "I only meant for one casualty for the harboring." She pauses and the room is still again until she speaks and it quivers more than before. "But I suppose those are the ramifications of all encompassing unstable magic."**_

_**Squall hoped he would never revisit this throne. He thought back then he wouldn't make it out alive. Looking back, he thinks without his friends fighting with him he wouldn't have even been able to make it out of a vision of the Hyne-damned place.**_

_**Ultimecia sits on her throne watching the unconscious Rafer, now sharing the qualities of Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartily. Sleeping, and perhaps dreaming of Joselyn, perhaps dreaming of nothing. Squall only knows the boy is not dead.**_

_**Ultimecia reaches out to Rafer with her spirit and lifts him off of the ground. She only looks halfway interested in him, like a tool she needs but will discard or incinerate after using it once. Rafer floats six feet in the air before the queen bitch of the universe, vulnerable to whatever travesty she is going to force on him.**_

"_**This boy is your home husband, this boy will help us defeat the SeeD's. For he IS the SeeDs and therefore he is the only one who can harbor us." It goes unspoken but Squall knows she thinks it. 'He is the only one who can harbor those two; therefore he is the one who will harbor us.' And a new rumbling is felt though now it comes from Ultimecia herself, and it is so much more resonant than the quivering in the walls.**_

_**The force of the magic forces her out of her throne and the demon leaps out of her body and into Rafer like a fish jumping over a strip of land from one stream to another. The force knocks them both back; Ultimecia back into her throne and Rafer hits the floor with force that would be deadly normally. But now there is a demon in him, and the demon needs to maintain the host that harbors it.**_

_**At first the boy looks as though he has died but he still only sleeps. And the life and evil that the demon, the husband throbs with, keeps Squall from fearing that Rafer is dead from the magic.**_

_**Squall knew even before he could see it leap from one body to another that the demon was Griever. He knows the feeling of that monster as well as he knows himself.**_

_**The power of Griever levitates the boy out of sight and Ultimecia takes the time to compose herself before her enemies arrive. She will appear more awake and alive than she feels, for losing her lover from her mind will weaken her very much.**_

_**The scene shifts as soon as Squall feels that he and his comrades are arriving for the final battle, and he is grateful. He doesn't want to see that happen again.**_

_**It is midnight and a storm is coming. The funeral will not last as long as they wish it would.**_

_**In the middle of the field beyond Dollet a nondescript couple mourns with their cyclopean son. Nobody else is with him. They are drabbed in clothes blacker than their despair, the gravestone is small but intricate. Pretty.**_

_**It has no name written on it. They couldn't afford the engraving.**_

_**Squall has to wait longer than he wishes he did for them to leave; he understands that they are sad. He knows they found Rafer, changed physically but recognizably dead in at front door. Time compression is over, and they are not the only family in the world that has suffered random, otherwise unexplainable casualties because of it.**_

_**When the storm is finally with them Squall sees the first bit of earth poke up as if a mole were working its way out of a tunnel. The family is long gone and they will not be caught up with. They will not even be remembered.**_

_**His face bursts out of the dirt and though he is covered in earth Squall sees that the boy looks dead now. The defeat of Griever killed his body but the magic kept him alive in death, it restored his life but not his appearance. He is alive, but the IMPACT of death stays with him and it always will.**_

_**The boy crawls out of the earth with less effort as soon as it is raining and the earth is softer stuff. He crawls out wearing the mud on his skin and nothing else; his dick is hard with a death erection that didn't soften with his restored life. He looks to the gravestone; he does not remember his name.**_

_**He has a new name, and he may never tell anybody how he came to get it.**_

_**The boy who died walks away from the gravestone, unwittingly away from his home, away from his family. It will take him an awfully long time to make it to Deling city, the place where he knows he must go. Somehow he knows he must be in Deling city.**_

_**Squalls last vision is seeing Grave walk away in the rain, his loins softening and the mud trickling off of his body beneath the harsh cold torrent of water. The boy with no life and no memory to speak of but crawling out of the ground as if he were the very son of the earth.**_

And it is the biggest flash yet and though he is not feeling things like this anymore, he does not simply know these things he believes that this is the last time it will happen. It is finally over, the teleportation is over, and the visions are over.

He is on the balcony in the ballroom where he has stood on two occasions and both were for the same ceremony and at once he knows what is happening… basically he knows. The crowd is staring up at him like a room full of statues that have been painted and designed so perfectly human that Hyne must have made them herself. He stares back with the same shock, for nobody is more shocked than he is, nobody is more relieved.

"Squall!" Except maybe for Rinoa.

Squall looks over the balcony as far as he can but he can only see a shattering champagne glass and the flap of a white lab coat. She will come to him; he doesn't need to do anything.

He can rest.

"Headmaster?"

Squall turns around and in the doorway he sees Xu. She is dressed as a replacement Head-what-have-you and behind her is a shadow he does not recognize. He can't decide if she is happy or sad to see him but he can tell she is startled, that much is obvious.

For once he sounds like a Headmaster when he speaks to her. "Xu I am sure that you have done a fine job in my place and I see nothing wrong with you wearing that but I'm back now, you'll have to stand down there with the rest of the audience." He sounds so much more composed than he expected he would after that, after seeing everything that he has been forced to see. Xu only nods, she turns to leave and hurries. He thinks she sneers at the shadow but that would be silly, just plain silly.

Rinoa rounds the corner on the balcony and leaps onto him and her lips are on him so hard they might fuse against his forever and not even surgery would separate them. The force of her leaping against him nearly sends them both over the balcony and to their deaths against the marble but he holds her steady, he doesn't think she noticed they almost plunged to their deaths. Her tears are hot and wonderful against his face, they run down his neck and though he doesn't want her to be so sad he loves the way her tears feel. He hates that she cries but he loves her tears.

Squall hears the footsteps of the retired PesticidE step up to the balcony and overlooks the crowd. He hears the hiss of a soda bottle opening and the sound of two great swigs. He does not feel awkward with Rinoa on him with somebody beside them now. He can tell that whoever it is doesn't care and he needs this, he needs this so much. Everybody will have to just wait for a few minutes, maybe more…

It only feels like one minute but the shadow knows it's really ten before they stop kissing, and it is ten more minutes before Rinoa gets off of him. And it is ten more minutes after he takes everything in that he will be able to speak again.

_Salut._


	16. To Esthar

_Discalimer & A/N: I don't own anything released by Squaresoft/Square-Enix etc, etc, etc. I don't own Faygo._

_It takes a mountain of faith_

_River flowing pain_

_It takes a hammer on a nail_

_A whole lotta love… yeah…_

_It takes a lifetime of working_

_A touch of understanding_

_It takes a wind in the sails_

_Little children singing_

_It takes a sun burning knowledge_

_An ocean full of feeling_

_It takes a certain kind of hunger_

_A whole lotta love… yeah…_

_Jerry Cantrell, What It Takes_

**Part Sixteen: To Esthar**

**Can't Save The Savior**

Seifer smiles uncontrollably as he tries to drink. His lips are too tight for the fluid to pass into his mouth so it seems that he has been taking the slowest swig of Peach Faygo in history when he has not yet tasted a drop.

It has been ten minutes since they began kissing and Seifer smiles because he's fighting the urge to laugh. If he laughed then he would choke on his liquid candy and probably start sputtering all over everyone. They stop ten minutes after they began and unfortunately that is when Seifer can't keep his laughter inside anymore, once they are finished and can afford their eyes to scold him.

It's just so funny to him, he cannot help it. He's so relieved to be back, Rinoa is so relieved he's back, everybody was so fucking worried. It just it all seems so funny, so stupid.

Because Seifer knew from the first day that he would be back.

Squall-The-Moody-Little-Pretty-Boy-Leonhart has always had luck not necessarily _better_ than the devils but its timing has always been sharper. The luck is not always good, the timing of the luck is not always good but it _is_ always like a snipers bullet. It always happens precisely at a significant moment. Just like this one.

Seifer didn't know when he would be back but he knew, he knew that Leonhart would be back sooner or later.

So he can't be surprised, he can't feel sad or relieved because he doesn't feel so close to Leonhart. He can feel happy though, and contrary to what everybody is thinking right now, despite what they think of his laughter he is happy that puberty boy is back. Ahem, sorry, 'Headmaster Puberty,' if you please.

Seifer spares a glance after the loudest of his laughs and they're looking at him, if he spared a glance to the crowd he would see that many of them are looking at him and not Squall for his rude laughter. The crowd looks a bit annoyed, Rinoa looks just plain offended.

Squall is just surprised, just as surprised to see Seifer as the crowd is to see him.

Seifer grins the way he used to when he was winning a stick fight with Squall. He takes the first swig of his drink and he makes it a long one, the bottle is already half empty and he holds it out to Squall in good nature. "You want a hit of this pal?" He says as if he were speaking with Raijin after happily surviving a cataclysm.

"Uh," Squall manages not to say anything for a minute and Seifer holds the bottle out patiently until Squall identifies what Seifer is offering and he manages to say. "No, no thanks, never touch the stuff."

Rinoa, who is still wrapped around Squall with both of his hands suspending her by the butt, is awfully thirsty from kissing and though she also does not touch the stuff, "I'll have some."

Seifer lets her have it as if she were the one that he was offering the drink to originally. Rinoa swallows the rest of the drink and hands it back to Seifer without making sure that he has a hold of it as if he were a recycling bin.

Seifer rolls his eye at her haughtiness and he throws the bottle off of the balcony as if he were shooting hoops. The bottle lands directly in the center of the bin for plastic and somebody actually claps. Seifer doesn't bow but only because he isn't sure which direction in which he should bow.

Even through his eccentricity Squall looks at his former nemesis stupidly still holding his wife by her butt. Her hands are in his hair and her face is nuzzled in the feathers of his collar like a cat intending to fall asleep. Seifer pulls another Faygo out of his pocket and cracks it open looking into the sky beyond the crowd as though there were fennecs humping there. Squall notices the ceiling has already been opened; apparently he showed up just in the knick of time.

"Seifer," Squall speaks normally, nobody below the balcony will hear him talk but they will see his lips move and many think this means the ceremony is going to be postponed.

Everybody knows the conflict between the Headmaster and the traitor and how the Headmaster wanted to not know the identities of the PesticidE's. Now that he knows the truth few people would be surprised if the Headmaster just got rid of him now. Kill him, throw him overboard, nobody would be shocked by either order or any other like them. But that will not happen, because what they don't know is what he has seen of Seifer in his absence. They don't really know a thing about their relationship.

Because right now even the men themselves don't know what their relationship is.

"Seifer are you wearing an eye patch?" He cannot see very well, Seifer's hair is a lot longer than it was three years ago and he can't see his face without looking directly at him. He thought he saw an eye patch but he doesn't know, he hasn't seen what Ellone showed him in reality. He trusts Ellone he does, but just as when you wake up from a dream and need to see reality to know what is true Squall needs proof that this man was who he thinks. He needs to see the proof even though he already knows.

Seifer does not turn his head to show Squall. "Yeah, its Fujin's. She gave it to me a while ago," he says so offhandedly as if he expected Squall to start asking him things that he did not already know about.

"After your mission with Quistis in the maze of that dead king." He expects Seifer to be surprised to hear him say that but the man sounds almost bored when he responds. Even though he is still smiling and occasionally fighting the giggles.

"Yep, spot on Headmaster Puberty." Squall isn't offended to hear that, in fact he is kind of grateful to hear it because it is concrete proof that he really is talking to Seifer Almasy.

"Rinoa I need you to join the crowd, we can be alone when the ceremony is over." Somehow Seifer knows that Rinoa will not be made angry by this. Normally she would be insulted to be pushed away thusly but not now, not now that her husband is back and she is so grateful that he's okay. She will do anything, anything is fine.

And he must be right about things being fine because although she is still leaking from the eyes and nose she smiles to Squall and goes back to the crowd obediently. Although Seifer doesn't hate Rinoa he's glad that it's just Squall and him up here. It's quite an unexpected upgrade from Xu, and without Rinoa it would be less awkward.

And based on Squall's amazement anything to make this less awkward he will be grateful to welcome.

"This is just the sort of time I would expect you to show up again," Seifer says with a smile on his face partially from the flavor of fake peaches bubbling in his belly, partially from the surprise of seeing his old nemesis flash into reality before his eye, mostly from his time with Quistis earlier in the day.

Not to demean the soda, certainly not.

Squall turns so his body is facing the crowd but his eyes stay on Seifer. Seifer is having too much fun watching the crowds torn emotion to pay any attention to Squall. And as the crowd is torn they don't quite know what to do; their former nemesis has apparently been their greatest protector for longer than he was their nemesis, and their leader who has been thought dead –or at least vanished forever- is suddenly back for no apparent reason other than by Hyne's own will.

_It isn't really,_ thinks Hyne, _but just as well._

Squall will laugh when he finds out the crowd thinks that, but for now the time for laughter is postponed for him.

The crowd doesn't know whether to be disappointed by their Savior or to be ecstatic by the return of their leader.

Eventually, and unanimously, they lean towards the latter.

The applause and hooting and celebration begin ahead of time for one of these ceremonies and for a completely different reason. The room is filled with sound as if a lightning bolt made of applause struck its center and has sent the room in such an uproar that glasses of champagne have shattered against the floor in the excitement –and the one odd bowl of coffee and cheerios of course. Most people have forgotten that the ceremony is even taking place right now, everything is about Squall all of the sudden.

_Figures._ Seifer thinks.

The ceremony has to be forced eventually and Seifer is thankful for Quistis's insistence.

On the podium where the graduates stand at SeeD inaugurations is altered for the farewell ceremony for PesticidE's. A pedestal is placed in the center of the podium at the center of attention. It's a beautiful work of art but only in the same way the architecture of the rest of Garden is. It is soap-like Greek whiteness adorned with whispers of gold and veils of blue. It looks unremarkable in it's designated place but it does stand out appropriately, it is at the center of the podium after all, the center of attention.

As long as Squall is not talking or manifesting from nowhere that is.

During the applause and excitement which at this point is unwanted even by Squall, even by Rinoa for that matter, Quistis comes out of the crowd unnoticed by most carrying a torn duffle bag. Once she is upon the podium and approaching the pedestal the noise begins to die down and will continue to until all are quiet and the ceremony is forced to begin.

Though the lack of noise will be forced and everybody will feel it. The excitement that somebody can come back from the side effects of time compression has given hope to everybody. Squall, after all, has not been the only loved one to disappear to the golden light. And that hope is as tense in their brains and their hearts as pressure in a submarine at the bottom of the ocean. The hope could ironically kill them all by causing their every vital organ's to burst from their excitement.

Squall is puzzled at once when the ceremony actually begins. Instead of Xu it is Quistis which puzzles him for but a moment. Xu was originally going to assume the Headmistress –Headperson?- position in his absence, and since Quistis is close to Xu it is no wonder that she would take the position of the podium that Xu would normally fill. This is irregular but no shock really.

The irregularity begins when Quistis places a haggard and stuffed duffle bag on the pedestal. Normally the uniform of the PesticidE is folded primly into a block shape with the helmet placed on top. This duffle bag is not properly closed and torn with holes. Squall can see the uniform stuffed in haphazardly with some other things obviously. Even unfolded the uniform would fit comfortably in that huge bag.

In her other hand Quistis held the helmet which she set atop the duffle bag and it sinks into the fabric like a plastic figurine into the icing of a cake. Squall's vision is fine, he is not very far away from the pedestal but at first he does not believe what he sees even though he knows, he knew before he came back. At first he thinks the light in the room is playing tricks on his eyes and making him see a smear of polystyrene where he should see a goggle.

_Hyne, Seifer. I would have guessed Shield, or Granite even, but not him, I never would have guessed you would have been the best. _Squall thinks.

_I suppose that says a lot about what I think of you Seifer._

"I had some other things that I wanted to get rid of, hope that's okay." Seifer takes a long drink then, suggesting he isn't listening in case Squall has a negative answer.

Quistis steps back a few paces and casts aura on herself and for one long excruciating moment Squall is worried that she's going to vanish in the golden light of _that_ magic. But his worrying is silly and he knows that once it subsides. The magic comes away from her vanishing in an instant like steam and she is left a golden woman with eyes an outstanding deeper green than even an enchanted swamp.

Just before Quistis gets started the zipper opens again, a tear opens further and a long ragged gray sleeve flops out. It hangs off of the pedestal like a worm having died upon touching the oxygen. Squall looks closely and he thinks that he sees specks of red; his symbol almost vanished completely from the unwanted garment. Seifer has finished his swig and is watching with Squall again, honestly waiting for an answer.

Squall understands, he understands completely. "Yeah, yeah Seifer it's okay." Seifer replies by watching with him.

Quistis pauses longer than she should because she also noticed the sleeve and felt compelled to watch it. Seifer isn't as good of a judge of Quistis's behavior as he wants to be but he thinks she's watching that sleeve as if she blames the garment for everything he did. The last relic of a dead villain they can finally finish off.

Quistis looks up and implores Squall what Seifer has already requested. This does technically go against the ritual but there is nothing wrong with it and they all know it. In fact it feels even more appropriate for they are sending away two dead figures, two men who were the same min, neither one existing anymore.

There is no signal for the Headmaster to give the pyre technician because said technician is supposed to just do it. But this is different, so Squall gives her a lazy gesture with his hand and he smiles for her. A smile she has not seen on him since his head was dripping with coffee not long ago –but it feels so much longer than that, pleasant memories like that one.

Quistis closes her eyes and gestures her spell and rather than the blaze of Xu's Special Skill the duffle bag and helmet are encompassed by an orb. It is blue and glass-like and humming bright with not yet exploded energy. The energy spins without the objects and it resembles a transparent basketball spinning around a pile of poorly contained junk.

By no visible gesture on Quistis's part the orb floats high up through the open roof and all eyes follow it. Unbeknownst to either man Squall is watching just as intently as Seifer is, just as intently as Quistis is watching. This does go beknownst to Quistis despite the concentration she has to show for her magic, and as their… sister of upbringing you might say… she is so happy to see it. She is so happy to see the nemesi looking so akin.

As soon as the orb is so far away that it looks just like any star you might see in the sky. It sets itself apart from the nights every other light by exploding. The flash is a ring and an orb like a ringed planet and every other ring is electricity shaking wildly around the destructive energy. The light show of the savior and the traitor lasts so much longer than the lights of the other two ceremonies; Xu's fire is not so grand so it is a wonder why it has not always been Quistis to do this.

But it is so much grander this way, so much more meaningful, personal to her so that this grand send off can be so much grander and not made dull by routine –not to say that PesticidE's are lost routinely since this is only the third farewell ceremony in two and a half years.

It takes a long time before the light is gone, and when it is, all are quiet. Eventually the people will talk amongst themselves, the shattered glass and spilled fluids –of all sorts, consumable and non- and… breakfast cereals will be cleaned. But the important talk is between the former PesticidE and the Headmaster.

The first PesticidE who lost the position was a fellow who in Seifer's oh so very fucking humble opinion was more useful to them away from the establishment. In three months the man had failed to save any of his cadets and was forced into retirement for basic failure to do his job. Seifer was very happy to see him go and so was Squall, they discussed this on either side of Seifer's mask but they can only distantly remember the conversation.

The second was a woman who was very skilled at her work. But she fell in love with a SeeD and decided that in order to be happy in the Garden she had to become a SeeD herself so she could be with him. She is still alive now and staring at the remainder of light in the sky with her lover who holds her by the waist. Seifer and Squall discussed her once too but with appreciation. Only resentful that she would not be doing the same job.

This is the first time a PesticidE has lost his position by being unmasked in battle: The first was unmasked by Xu when he least expected it guarding a classroom, the second unmasked herself in front of Squall one morning while he subjected himself to paperwork.

And now comes the longest discussion between the Headmaster and an ex-PesticidE that has occurred so far, and none will be so long again if any other mask is ever uncovered. And Squall will begin it by asking Seifer just the same uestion he asked the first two –slightly edited.

"Are we really saying goodbye to them, or are they standing beside me now?" If the first one were still here Squall would expect a, 'I'll die with my dream Squall, don't ask me stupid questions.' From the second one he would expect silence, perhaps, 'I don't know, I don't care to know.'

All three times he has asked that question he has been sure they have always stood beside him and they were just destroying an outfit, a uniform, a disguise. When he heard the first two answers he continued to believe it, but Seifer is about to make him wonder for the first time about that question.

"We are saying goodbye." He does not miss a beat, not one and Squall looks at Seifer then having not expected to hear that out of him. "They're fuckin' gone, the Savior killed the Traitor and kept the body because he couldn't really let go of that life completely yet. But I couldn't stand either one of them, I miss the Savior but I'm glad he's gone."

"Why?" Squall asks and turns his body completely so he is facing Seifer leaning against the rail on one elbow, Seifer continues to look to the sky his bottle halfway empty. "Why do you miss him?"

"Because he covered me up, and I could feel like I was him when he covered me, when nobody knew who I really was. I miss being covered up because I feel more like the traitor than the Savior without being covered. That's how I'm remembered. People see my face and my cross and they think 'Traitor' before they think of anything else." He takes a drink then continues before Squall can say anything. "And don't think that anything you say to them will change their minds."

Seifer has attended both of the former ceremonies as most others have and so he knows there is a speech made by the Headmaster concerning the ex-PesticidE then a shorter speech by the ex-PesticidE themselves –if he is still the Traitor like he thinks he is then he expects that his speech will actually be _much_ longer than Squall's own. The speeches are supposed to justify the retirement and redeem the loss of the bodyguard. This time Squall needs to redeem the man himself.

But he's still going to try. He doesn't believe Seifer is the Traitor anymore, he believes he's standing beside somebody more akin to the Savior.

He may be Seifer Almasy again but Almasy was not always a traitor, and Squall believes he will never be a traitor again after what he's done. And he will most certainly not be a traitor again if the connection between he and Quistis he saw in his visions have any merit.

"Are you staying Seifer?" Squall asks not for the answer because he already knows.

"Yes," he says with unnecessary defiance as if he expected he would have to fight Squall about it.

Squall smiles a fine grin borrowed from the man in front of him and he looks up to where Seifer has kept his eyes. "I thought so," he says with fine arrogance also borrowed from the same man.

And now it is Seifer's turn for surprise, he turns to Squall for the first time seeing his former nemesis wearing his own grin and glowing with the mood he was once so used to. Feeling like he's really going to need it Seifer swigs the rest of the controlled substance and slips the vessel into his other pocket.

"Why do you say that?" Seifer asks interested in the conversation for the first time, interested the ceremony for the second time. He expected to watch the death of his former egos to gripe with Xu for a bit then he would leave without hearing her speech or giving his own.

This night is not turning out even the tiniest bit like he expected it to.

That is some good news.

"So spit it out Headmaster, what's on your mind?" He means to sound harsh but it comes out duller than he meant for it too. He sounds too close to friendly in fact.

Squall makes him wait because he doesn't know how to start yet, he wants to just start at the beginning which is what he does eventually resort too. "I know that time compression isn't over yet."

"Would've questioned your intelligence otherwise," Seifer interrupts but the interruption was expected and is comfortable.

"I was being teleported to various places on the planet, I met Laguna in Winhil then Cid and Edea at the orphanage, I'll tell you and everybody else about that later but there are some things that I want only you to hear."

Seifer raises one eyebrow even though Squall is not watching and he does not interrupt this time.

"In between teleportation's Ellone was showing me visions. She showed me things concerning you more than anybody else." Seifer is silent. "She showed me after you escaped from prison and stopped at a bar in Winhil which you destroyed somehow."

Seifer laughs then but not at Squall and Squall notices that. "That reminds me that _I_ have a lot to tell _you_ buddy, don't stop though it can wait"

Squall waits to make sure that Seifer actually doesn't have something to say yet before he continues. He's surprised Seifer isn't offended because that vision and every other one struck Squall as awfully personal stuff. "She showed me how you and Quistis ended up at the orphanage together," he says cautiously, testing the barrier between his and Seifer's personal feelings.

Seifer is suddenly looking ahead instead of up, to the naked eye he looks at nothing but with his knowledge Squall's eye is a laser to Seifer's mind and he can see that Seifer is looking at his memory. Squall wonders how Seifer's memory compares to the image that Ellone showed him; is it duller and missing chunks, is it equally vivid and missing nothing, or is it yet more vivid and more elaborate?

Will Seifer say a word or will he do what Squall would expect from the Traitor and storm away with his troubles tucked tight inside his heart?

"Did she?" No, no he will not.

"She has shown me an awful lot about you; she showed me the accident in the temple where you lost your eyes with Quistis."

"That's fine." Squall is shocked to hear Seifer say that about any of these visions but he doesn't want to interrupt Seifer by showing it. "I'm not sure what I think about you seeing the truck ride though." He sounds testy but his own feelings for Ellone keep him from out-bursting. Seifer was and still is, easily, the member of the orphanage gang furthest away from Ellone but his feelings for her are not absent.

And not just because he is defensive of his big sis.'

"The last thing she showed me was the day you were initiated as a PesticidE." Now Seifer shows emotion and she shoots a deadly look to Squall that causes him to stir inside out of view.

"She didn't show you the actual initiation did she?" Squall sees something in Seifer's face that does not amuse him –because he is not Zell- and he decides that he doesn't need to know what Seifer is worrying about so he denies it at once.

"No, she just showed me what happened outside in the rain." Seifer softens at once and looks away again in his memory visioning portion of the wall opposite them.

"Good, 'cause that is not a memory I want to have myself. Zoo is capable of a level of bitchiness that I sometimes have a hard time mocking. She's like my own white whale."

Squall ignores that statement. "Why do you want to join us?" Squall repeats and he knows that he has roused the portion of that memory that Seifer does not mind as much as what Squall did not see. He knows because Seifer starts to repeat it with him.

"Tell me!" Seifer mocks Xu's voice so well that Squall actually laughs a little and he can feel that Seifer appreciates it… or perhaps he just knows and he thinks that he feels it after feeling Seifer's so vividly in those visions.

And the last word they say together. "Quistis," which makes Seifer start so that Squall can notice and he feels ashamed for it. But it matters not, Squall ignores it and Seifer is allowed to brush the feeling away as best he can with dignity.

"Quistis was very important in the visions about you and I have a hunch why but I don't want to say it." Squall is surprised then by how swiftly Seifer admits what he does, he almost doesn't let Squall finish his own statement.

"Well your hunch is right, she has always been my real romantic dream." And when Squall thinks that Seifer will say no more about it he surprises him. "If not for her I might just be dead now, and I'd definitely still be your enemy if I wasn't dead… I would have been your enemy a lot sooner."

Squall is careful to stay quiet because he expects there is more the same way he knows that Rinoa will maul him more intimately than she did a minute ago when they are alone in their bed together again.

"When I started to love I loved her, when I started to want I wanted her. When we forgot about each other because of the Espers I continued to love her anyway and I didn't understand it. Without those memories I didn't know why I loved her, she was such a fucking prude when she was a teenager I couldn't tell what my attraction was. So I pretended I didn't feel it, I pretended because the falsehood made more sense than the truth."

_Then I should have given you more credit for your Fucked Upedness Seifer, I'm sorry._

"Then the memories came back and I was fishing with Fujin and Raijin one day, and we saw B-Garden fly overhead. And as stupid as it sounds I was happy to see it, I was happy that it was soaring and in one piece. When Fujin and Raijin were accepted back they communicated to me about the PesticidE project -and after they argued with me about it through an amount of letters I refuse to count- I came back. You have them to thank more than me, Quistis to thank also if you're happy at all that I came back."

"I am," Squall says so with no hesitation just like with the thought he had before and Seifer is unsure about it. Happy to hear it, but unsure nonetheless.

"Good," Seifer says sounding as if he is in charge of the conversation somehow. Squall feels nostalgic hearing that tone come out of Seifer. "I wouldn't want to fight you about it. You're not somebody for me to fight anymore."

"Because you're not leaving," Squall repeats to confirm it, to let Seifer know that he approves in a way that he knows Seifer will reciprocate with comfort.

"Because I'm not leaving," Seifer repeats after Squall confirming it with him.

And that's how it becomes official, nobody can argue no matter how much they might want to. The Headmaster wants him here, his friends want him here, his lover wants him here, and he wants to be here.

_If you don't want Seifer Almasy in Balamb Garden with you then you'll just have to jump overboard._

_Sorry Zoo._

Seifer chuckles and for the first time since they were kids not yet squabbling Squall is looking to him and smiling ready to ask. "What are you laughing about?"

"Oh nothing, nothing you'd be laughing at anyway." Seifer gestures waving Squall away from his personal joke. He probably wouldn't find it terribly funny anyway… actually he might but Seifer would rather not risk it since he is not quite sure how Squall feels about Xu.

"So do you think that you've said your piece, can I make the speech yet?" Seifer makes a face and Squall laughs at him openly, he laughs so high that even the people below can tell and warmth for Seifer slips into their hearts with tough reluctance.

Seifer would make another face to show his pissyness at Squall laughing at him but he knows that making another face would only make it worse. "I wish you didn't have to do it at all to be honest but yeah, yeah I've said everything you need to hear for now."

Somehow Squall expects for Seifer to leave the balcony now but he doesn't and he's not surprised despite what he expects. He's not sure what makes him think Seifer would leave; perhaps because he just expected Seifer to leave from the beginning of this ceremony anyway –not that he expected the ceremony or for Seifer to be a part of it before he showed up.

He supposes that the suddenness of learning all of this and being thrown into the situation has made it hard for him to register all of it. He still has feelings of the Traitorous Child like Bully Seifer which will not die easily, no matter how changed the man beside him is, whether or not he just saw the only remaining shreds of the traitor flash into nothing a minute ago.

But he forgives him, that will have to be good enough for right now. Because of Ellone Squall forgives Seifer.

Squall then addresses the whole audience loudly and he notices what Seifer must have noticed a while ago; that Quistis is still standing on the podium and looking up to them admiringly… or is it proudly? Normally the one in her position would have shifted back into the audience without being noticed like a bubble floating into the rest of the suds but it's not really important. Squall will not gesture her to move.

He kind of likes seeing her there in fact, looking so happy that these two men can be peaceful with each other for once, without anybody bossing them into it. She's probably been waiting an awful long time to see voluntary peace between them.

Probably something like fifteen years come to think of it.

"I need everybody's attention." The room is quiet at once, the normal amount of devotion they have for him is magnified with his sudden reappearance. "I have two announcements." He holds up to fingers for all to see in case anybody in the audience is unsure that he said what he did. "The first concerns the man beside me; his given name, the name we all know him by is Seifer Almasy, that is how I will refer to him but to me his name is still Savior.

"This man has saved the life of everybody in this room at least once either on a field exam or a mission or in the training center." Squall pauses and smiles to himself, he doesn't think that everybody remembers this. "And at least one occasion I can think of in the cafeteria." Seifer laughs and so do a few other select members of the audience. The rest of the audience begins to laugh along with it amused that such a thing is true even if they don't know what it is.

"For the last two and a half years this man has been our greatest bodyguard, and so there is no reason he can't now be one of our best SeeDs. He has decided to stay and I am on his side, if you don't like it you'll have to just jump overboard." Seifer laughs as if amused by his own joke again. "He has committed wrongs against this academy but none of that matches the weight of what he has done to benefit it. We should be grateful this man is on our side, now is not the time to make enemies when he have a far greater one opposing us already."

Suddenly Squall feels a level of tension that wasn't here when he arrived nor when he was making his speech for Seifer. Shock and worry permeates the air suddenly the way dry heat in Centra sucks the moisture out of your body when you spend more than a few hours in its sun. But this happens in an instant; flash Centran dehydration.

Squall has touched on something that has become sensitive in his absence and after a moment of feeling this, of seeing how everybody looks up to him now –Rinoa and Quistis in particular- and what he said to cause this he knows that something has happened, and he hates that he needs not to guess what it was.

But he doesn't need to ask, he needs somebody to say it to him out loud for it to be real to him and so he looks to Seifer who though quieter is not despairing. "What happened," Squall asks with a voice low and full of menace not for him or anybody else in the flying academy.

He looks awfully nonchalant but Squall can feel the tension in Seifer so he understands that Seifer's calm is not for lack of interest. "She attacked us with Galbadia Garden while you were gone." Squall is waiting for him to elaborate but when Seifer looks at him he just seems a bit annoyed that he wants to hear more. "I think Rinoa would like to be the one to tell you everything that's happened while you were gone."

Hearing this Squall knows Seifer is right –which is a weird feeling, Seifer being right about Rinoa's feelings while he is oblivious- he relaxes without feeling any comfort whatsoever. Suddenly antsy to get to his and Rinoa's room so he can hear the full story. The ceremony is almost complete anyway.

"I think you should finish this Seifer; there is a lot to talk about." Seifer nods and calls the attention he deserves from the audience and it is quite a shock how quickly and willingly they let him have it.

"Hey!" Is all it takes, his call stops the talk and all of the attention is brought to him as if he were the Headmaster –and his ego is careful to pretend that he is in charge in that moment for not all of the Traitors personality is gone and never will be. But he doesn't smile for everybody for there is no mirth or arrogance in his message.

"The Headmaster is finished speaking for tonight so this will be the end of the festivities, I will now say what I am obligated to say to everyone and afterwards you can spend the rest of the night as you like." All are quiet and attentive for him but his ego raises no more, it is as strong and steady as his voice.

"The sorceress Ultimecia lives on and she is the one we fought yesterday. Her soldiers were puppets, men and women she claimed the souls of with magic and a young body that she probably killed and stole." He knows everyone's wondering how he might know this and he will probably only tell Quistis, he may tell the other heroes if she nags it out of him but she will not be holding her breath about that working.

"We have destroyed most of her army and the magic that held the survivors is clearly no longer withstanding. We destroyed her base of operations in the physical world but she is still out there and she still wants us all dead. Time Compression is not over and it won't be over until we stop it. The only reason she could come back at all is because it was not over yet. We will stop her, we will stop the curse she placed on time and this will all be over." All are quiet still expecting more from him but Seifer has nothing more to say that everybody is allowed to hear.

"Spend the rest of the evening as you wish, the farewell ceremony is over." And Seifer proves it by turning heel and walking away from the balcony and Squall is not far behind him as if to prove to the audience that Seifer is not overstepping his boundaries.

Only the heroes and Seifer choose to leak out and nobody follows them, nobody else leaves for a long time. The room will be left a great mess but it will be cleaned well tomorrow by a load of reluctant corner cutting teenagers, for now it can be littered with paper and glass, various fluids -only a few of which grotesque. This room can be fine tomorrow but tonight nobody cares, not even the cleaning crew, not even Xu.

That is right, not even Zoo.

**The Death of the Traitor**

Contrary to what he expected Squall didn't get to be alone with Rinoa right after the ceremony. He, Rinoa, Selphie, Quistis and Seifer all went to his and Rinoa's quarters according to some unspoken agreement where he could not get a non word in edgewise. He realizes there are other things to talk about but does it have to be now?

Since he has no choice he decides to get everything started the way he wants to by asking where Irvine and Zell are. He notices for the first time that they are not present and he also didn't remember seeing them in the audience earlier. When he mentions those two everyone becomes quiet and stays that way. Rinoa is useless, behaving like a sleeping kitten trying to hide her face in his armpit; Selphie is equally useless with anybody present for her to hide in and Quistis… Quistis looks like she's about to explain but she stops and looks away from him just as she begins.

He's shocked at himself for this but Squall looks to Seifer for an explanation and Seifer talks. It seems to Squall that Seifer thought he should be the last one to talk about it and he was waiting to see if nobody else would start before he made the report.

And he does recite it as if it were a report which Squall almost laughs at for more reasons than he can think of right now. That is, of course, until Seifer actually gives him the report.

"Shortly after you disappeared _somebody_ was murdered." Seifer is careful to pause and emphasize 'somebody.' Squall lets that sit in before Seifer continues. "Quistis went to Zell's room and inside everything was smothered by a liquefied person. We can't find Zell or Irvine anywhere. The two were fighting a whole lot before this happened."

Squall distinctly remembers Irvine giving Netta much unwanted attention and remembering this he feels that much of what is bothering them is explained.

Squall knew that, with his training in underhanded assassination he learned in G-Garden, Irvine would be quite a suspect for that –but that doesn't explain the liquefied body because that is in no way subtle. Zell would be a prime suspect as he hated Irvine for what he was doing and has no temper –but that doesn't explain the finesse and expert veiling of the murder.

The only explanation Squall can think of is Time Compression teleported them both. Zell may have a temper but he would never kill Irvine. Irvine may have a wandering eye but he wouldn't go so far as to eliminate somebody else's lover so he could have an extra woman –this makes no sense for so many reasons that Squall can't begin to consider it.

His friends would never kill each other, never, he believes that.

Then begins Squall's questioning: he is careful to use as few words as possible for each question and his comrades are careful to answer as briefly as they can.

"DNA testing?" Squall asks.

Rinoa is the one to answer; she lifts her head out of the crook of his arm and speaks loud enough that everybody can hear her even though only Squall is listening.

"Broken, sabotaged the same night -and in the same condition the body was basically. We haven't been able to get a replacement because of everything that's happened." She descends back into his surrounding flesh and warmth and she is left alone in her relief.

"Then we'll have to go back to Esthar as soon as possible for another one." And her head shoots back up as if she were not exhausted and drained a gallon of tears. Everybody else looks to Squall the same way, excited but unsure of how they should be excited. Should they be shocked, pleased, or angry? He suddenly seems to be a new species of hypocrite that has yet to be recorded or examined.

It's Quistis who asks because Rinoa honestly doesn't want too. "What happened to 'I don't need any help from Laguna, I've done fine without him for twenty years!' her impression of him is as bad as ever but for the first time everybody is wickedly pleased to hear it out of her.

Squall doesn't seem to care. "I knew you were getting our stuff from Esthar anyway. I didn't want to bring it up because you would squabble about it and I didn't want to hear it."

The absolute lack of interest in the topic makes the women feel totally outraged but because of the situation and the point of aggravation itself they give up. Squall knows now this will never be an issue ever again –unless if his friends choose to mock him about it in the future but ideally that will never happen again either.

Fat chance.

"So it's decided." Squall claims their attention back to the topic at hand and he is happy they don't insist on pressing his feelings about Laguna… he's not quite ready to talk about that yet. "We'll go back to Esthar as soon as possible to pick up a new DNA examining device and anything else we need to restock." There are nods all around and Squall is happy to be off that topic so soon. He doesn't show it yet –because he's not alone with Rinoa yet- but he hasn't yet digested the news about his male comrades and he doesn't feel like he can talk about it much longer without expelling some unsavory fluid.

"Seifer told me that we encountered G-Garden yesterday, I need you to recount that for me." To the surprise of everybody –including the woman herself- except Seifer and Squall, Quistis catches attention with a deep breath and she speaks. Her recount of the battle is brief but detailed.

By the end of it all Squall decides he needs to hear more from Seifer and he is reminded that he needed to visit SeeD Grave tonight anyway –although now he has more to say to the kid. Squall looks at Seifer and he sees that Seifer didn't him everything. He may tell him the rest but only if he presses him for it.

It is tiresome, he wants to make love to his wife and sleep for at least twelve hours but he needs to hear this, he needs to know now or he won't be able to sleep tonight at all.

"You haven't told us everything Seifer, we know you weren't always capable of that, tell us what you've left out." At this Seifer is quiet and Quistis puts one hand on his knee. She knows already, Squall can tell and he's suddenly very mad at them. He has already spilled his guts once so he'll be reluctant to spill them again. The contact that Quistis makes with Seifer is noticed by Selphie and even Rinoa on an unprofessional basis that would be reminding Squall alarmingly of scavengers if he were paying attention to them.

Squall waits a long time and feels his eyes becoming sandy as he waits and his blinking seems to happen slower as his eyelids feel like they are grinding over his eyes. But when Seifer speaks Squall actually feels the attention that he appears to have been paying this whole time. When Seifer speaks Squall is awake again and he is glad because he knows that Seifer will never talk about this again, ever.

Ever.

_When she was angry the sound of thunder was constant in her castle. When she was at her worst, when she was the glass after the shattering it seemed like the walls themselves would shatter around him. The last time she punished him he hoped it would be as simple and merciful as a living burial –to be buried alive, to be buried beneath other living things. It would make no difference either way it would have been more merciful._

_Anything would have been easier than to have his own pride turned on him._

_The last time she punished him Seifer Almasy was on his hands and knees wishing the walls would fall all around him, he didn't care if they crushed him, if they would just carry him back to reality he could happily withstand the injury. He could withstand any degradation to survive._

_As long as it was not this one, anything but this._

_She sat of course, she would not stand unless if the SeeDs actually showed up –which she doubted so much but that could not quell her anger oh no not one bit. Even when not in contact with her Seifer could feel that the shaking and shattering in the walls could not touch her. Those great ripples in the air and the building and in his own body passed over her like water splashing across an ivory statue._

_Normally they looked strictly ornamental but in her anger Ultimecia's wings were immense, as grand as Hyne's wings would be if she had a pair and just as terrible as the anger that shook the castle walls and would cause aneurysms in the brains of cute things if such things could exist in this place._

_Now those rippling black shapes brushed against the shaking walls and the sounds of the bristling plumage blended with the sounds of thunder and breaking stone to create a cacophony only half as terrible as his punishment would be. Only half as terrible as the fake shit-eating smile she wore in her destructive anger._

"_You failed me more times than I can stand Sir Almasy. I do not normally give any one knight more than one chance. I thought you were special, but you're just four different kinds of failure. You wasted my trust. It must have been nothing more than your arrogance that told me you would serve me well, no truth, only pride for yourself that you don't deserve to feel."_

_Seifer nearly collapses from hearing that already, for he was still her knight then and to be degraded by her in this way was no different than to have tendons plucked from inside his body. His sorceress was not pleased, his lady was angry._

_His master was vengeful._

"_So I have decided your own arrogance will be your punishment. Before I discard you I will turn your arrogance to acid, the unfriendly fire beneath your skin. And only the one you belong to." –and of course she felt at the time this could only be herself- "Only I will ever be able to undo it, only if you have me as a lover again will you overcome this curse of yours. This curse that you have really had all of your life. The curse of Almasy's pride."_

_Seifer knows what she will say next and he really does lose the strength in one knee. Her anger wells so high he can't kneel properly for her now._

"_Your father felt so sure of the feelings of the mother Trepe but he was wrong, and his pride made him that dragon, that suiciding murdering reptile disguised as a good man. You are as bad as your father Sir Almasy and I shall curse you to make you remember it. I will curse you so you know how like a failure, how like your father you are."_

_He sobs; he really sobs and as he recalls this Seifer tells everybody with no shame and they will never mock him for it. Even if Zell were listening to this now he would not ever mock him for this._

"_From this moment forward," and then the burning began, the bitch wasn't joking. She wasn't hesitating because the curse began JUST AS SHE SAID SO he felt some profound portion of his spirit become flames in his physical body and that fire could never be put out it, would burn him away until there was nothing left but the heat and with no body to harbor it his pride would become a wisp and then nothing. "From this moment forward your pride is fire inside you, red raging acid light and you are mistaken Almasy it will never kill you, this fire is only profound pain and YOUR pride could survive without a body, I think."_

_Seifer tries to raise his knee back up feeling so desperate he would do anything, any gesture even if it were something so insignificant as to bow properly so she might take it back. If he behaved like a good dog, like a good boy she might take it back._

_Because he loved her, surely that meant something, surely that protected him?_

_As he explains this they're not outraged that he thought that, not even Quistis, not even Quistis._

"_Whenever you feel pride for yourself or anybody else you will instead be burned, not damaged." She is quick to say that as if she thought that she needed to correct herself. "Not changed in any way, you will only be harmed; you will only feel the physical misery of hating yourself as much as I hate you."_

_She doesn't mean it she loves me she loves me she loves me she doesn't mean it I know it I know it I know it I want her to love me again._

"_And this is what it will be like." Her face is so much more a mask than it ever has been. She looks just ecstatic with love and happiness but he feels like the walls really will fall around them. But they won't carry him back to Gaia, no, not yet; he can't go home before he knows how he's being punished._

_And even when he does he will not be able to go home for another six months._

_At once he feels the shape of the cross split a hollow inside his body and the scorching red light blasts out of his back as a pillar of his punishment. She muses the light might create a signal in the clouds, his proud symbol would become the symbol of his shame and failure for the entire world to observe and judge him by. Or perhaps the very clouds would be scorched and evaporate or create a hole in the ozone layer. Perhaps she could use Time Compression to dissolve that too, she needs no such layers on her planet to survive._

_Seifer's very vision has gone red but its red with disintegrated ego rather than anger burned up arrogance rather than hatred. He sees red and he feels cinder rolling inside his veins. He smells flesh scorching that can't cook can't blacken, it can only suffer, it can only writhe._

_When he collapses the floor caves in beneath him and he doesn't sense it as it is rebuilt above him. He falls through time and space, passes through many different worlds that he will never see and he might have seen faces that he would recognize in worlds that he would not._

_He is aware again when he is back in his own world because the red flashing pain is gone; his body doesn't tingle with healing, it doesn't rash with after-burn. Physically he feels fine and mentally he's surprised, surprised he doesn't feel mind-raped. There is just a noticeable emptiness. Not just in his mind but in his heart there is an impressive hole where something very important used to be… and in fact it still lingers, his pride is indeed still in him but it is but a fetus compared to the soaring Roc it once was._

_He supposes she needed to leave something for him to feel, something for him to be punished with, a little spark that could blaze again at a moments notice._

_Unless if he could stay ashamed._

_Seifer looks up and is surprised again that he still has vision and that the glare he sees at first is only the desert light. He sees two towers and even before he recognizes them he knows where he is and he believes that Ultimecia is responsible for his location as well. He wonders how fake her face looks now as he looks up to the prison guards looking down on him. He knows they smile and load their weapons in undeserved triumph even before his vision comes back to him properly._

Seifer doesn't report every detail of this recollection to Squall Rinoa and Selphie but when he spoke to Quistis earlier in the day he told her every word, every little detail. He admitted every bit of embarrassment and shame and misery.

Squall after all doesn't need to know all of the personal details anyway… and he probably wouldn't care to hear them, come to think of it.

Squall speaks up an awful lot sooner than Seifer expected him to. "And this curse is broken now?" Seifer doesn't know how Squall guessed this but he is impressed, he is very impressed.

"Yeah," Seifer sounds appropriately surprised. "Officially it happened yesterday when she tried to burn my pride away completely. It's a strange curse because even after it was broken it still affected me. Instead of just breaking the curse you can only change the final stage of it, if I still belonged to Ultimecia then she would have killed me yesterday."

The three brunettes raise their eyebrows though Squall's gesture is the only one that Seifer cares to see. "No longer belong to her?"

"If I were still her knight," Seifer knows there will be further explanation and he dreads it. He can feel something like embarrassment coming off of Quistis in waves.

"How does that work? I thought knighthood was permanent." Squall is curious and so are the girls but not quite in the same way.

"Well," Seifer begins, hesitating, but Quistis squeezes his knee so as to tell him that she does not mind… much. "I was technically still her knight even though she disowned me, but you might say that I was up for grabs after that." He sees something like a smile on the lips of Selphie and Rinoa and he is very sorry to Quistis for what she's going to hear from them after he finishes explaining this. "And a while ago, Quistis, um," Seifer rolls his eye away and stops himself because he was about to say, 'fucked' and he knows that the abuse Quistis will receive will be so much worse if he puts it that way. He settles on, "claimed me," and Squall looks satisfied -and privately happy.

Selphie and Rinoa's emotions on the other hand will not be so private.

Selphie has risen a touch to her normal perkiness and Rinoa has managed to lift herself from Squall though she is still practically connected to him. Seifer expects them to bother Quistis now but he realizes soon they're just giving her a look. A profound warning of the interrogation she will get as soon as the heavy conflict is over –or sooner for they know not when the conflict will end and they will all need their entertainment before then no doubt.

But for now they are quiet because it will not be nearly as fun with the two moody men present. Just as the vulgar movie is wonderful with your friends and but makes you feel tight and uninterested if your high school principal is with you instead.

Seifer decides this interrogation ought to be put off until tomorrow at the earliest.

"That's all Squall," Seifer says and he doubts if Squall has noticed what he has but he knows Squall will be happy to play along regardless. "I'll bet that you and Rinoa need to be left alone."

Squall gives Seifer a grateful smile but not nearly as electric as Rinoa's. She looks just as lusty as she is relieved.

"Yeah, we'll do something about all of this tomorrow." Squall and Rinoa stay put and say nothing more to signal for their friends that it's indeed time for them to leave. Seifer and Quistis leave together quickly.

It takes Squall and Rinoa twenty minutes of doing nothing to force Selphie out too.

**D.N.A.**

Squall was disappointed to be sitting at his desk again the next day. He hadn't yet activated his plans to fire himself and promote Xu then rehire himself to a lower position; in fact he hadn't even told Rinoa about it. He remembers that originally he wasn't going to even tell her but after seeing her so relieved that he was back, after being so relieved that he could _be_ back and be in his bed and be inside his wife again he decided he could tell her. Surely she was so happy he was back that she wouldn't be outraged by his plan?

But he didn't because after Selphie –finally- left their time was spent without words and when they stopped they fell asleep. The next morning was spent similarly to the way the night was spent and they uttered words not different from 'I love you' 'I missed you' and all of the sudden he was back in his office, back where everybody expected him to be.

And now in this situation they were in it seemed that switching leaders would do nothing good for the Garden, morale would probably drop between forty and eighty percent with Xu suddenly in charge instead of him –Squall is all too aware of Xu's popularity in the Garden, he has heard from too many people now how she behaves as if she is indeed in charge of the place.

He will exact his plan when this new ordeal is over if he lives through it –if Xu lives through it for that matter, finding somebody other than Xu to take the position would be excruciating and it would quite frankly make him feel stupid despite how nobody wants her to be in charge. She is perfectly capable of running this place and she is eager to do it and that makes her just the desert rose that Squall needs.

Xu's profound lack of pleasant popularity reminds Squall instantly of Seifer and that reminds him of what Seifer recommended to him earlier. Although Squall thinks it will be superfluous he has a feeling that Seifer's feeling about it is an important one. He told Squall to contact Esthar about the D.N.A devices before actually going there. Squall has only half taken Seifer's advice because he intends to go to Esthar no matter what because they need more supplies of other sorts anyway and he has in fact told the pilot to go to Esthar just before he sat at his desk.

Squall realizes just before he picks up the phone and dials the number of the Esthar presidential palace that he has a few other things to tell them, one of them Seifer has also accidentally reminded him of.

The other occurs to him just as the phone is picked up on the other end.

"Esthar Presidential Palace Human Resources how may I help you?" The voice is of a human and not a message machine which surprises Squall so he pauses for a moment before he decides what he needs to say. "Excuse me, how may I help you?" The voice repeats not quite imitating the machine that Squall expected.

"Is Kiros Seagil available to speak, this is Squall Leonhart." The receptionist gasps and although Squall understands why she's excited he feels strange exciting a stranger in this way.

"Right away Headmaster Leonhart we've been hoping to hear from you." Squall hears a remarkable amount of clicks and clacks from a typewriter in the background and Squall is happy to be connected to somebody who would have a reason to be happy that he's back from his trip.

When Kiros picks up Squall is pleased and unsurprised that Kiros sounds just the same way. He sounds as if he were sitting in his office waiting for Squall to give him a call this whole time. "Headmaster Leonhart Esquire it has been too long."

Squall smiles just the same way Kiros must be on the other end of the line and he replies mimicking Kiros's suaveness. "Chancellor Seagil… um, what exactly parallels 'esquire?" Squall imagines Kiros's smile heighten closer to his cloud high cheekbones.

"I'm not sure, ask Instructor Trepe, she should know."

Squall chuckles and now intends to do just that the next time he sees Quistis. "I have some valuable information for you, first of all we need some more supplies so we would like to dock in a few days."

"I should hope so. But why do you need supplies again you were here just recently."

"They told me about that but we need something in particular. Somebody was murder inside B-Garden recently and we need a new D.N.A. testing device because it was sabotaged the same night."

On the other end Kiros is silent which Squall frankly didn't expect from the man. On the other end in Esthar Kiros is silently musing about how such a horrible coincidence could come about and he decides that it's definitely not a coincidence or a mistake or an accident. It isn't possible for a coincidence of this magnitude to happen, not even in a world where humans have learned how to harness magic.

When Kiros replies his trademark mirth is gone and Squall feels as if a phantom bucket of cottage cheese has been dumped into his spirits stomach. "Squall we don't have any of those devices right now."

"What?" This comes out much sooner and so much harsher than Squall meant for it too.

"They're all gone, it didn't happen very long ago in fact. One night the lab was normal and the next morning I've been reported that every one of those devices is missing."

"Not sabotaged like ours was?"

"No, just gone. We investigated thoroughly but found no evidence that they were stolen –and you know that our crime investigations are the most thorough on the planet." Kiros gloats not. The police and detectives of Esthar are the coldest, most practical, and devoutly scientific authority figures on the planet and it is unusual for them to miss a single peach fuzz of hair.

Squall knows these individuals as well as Kiros does and so he doesn't need Kiros to tell him what they declared, "Evanescence," Squall says and somehow he knows that Kiros is nodding on the other end of the line.

"That's right Squall, that is just what they said. As far as they're concerned the devices just vanished, coincidence or no, vanish is what they did."

"I don't think it was," Squall says, his voice heavy like dark smoke. "That's just a fucking stupid thing to say. This sort of thing just isn't random, it just isn't."

"I agree with you Squall." Kiros sounds like he is encouraging what Squall believes but must state otherwise because of his own practicality. Squall listens, he expected and respects that from his elder. "But we have to recognize the possibility that it was. I am on your side Squall, it's going to take an awful lot to convince me this is more than a coincidence but it might be, it just might."

Squall pauses at this but not for long, he was expecting Kiros would say they might never solve this and would have to accept that. It's not like Kiros to assume something so as to do nothing. "Okay Kiros I'll do that."

"Good," Kiros says with such finality that Squall would feel obligated to say nothing more on the subject even if he did have more to say.

"The next item I have for you is that the PesticidE Savior was unmasked during a conflict between the B and G-Gardens that took place yesterday." Squall pauses because he knows this is an awful lot of information to take in all at once –from personal experience. But Kiros surprises Squall by urging him on awfully soon.

"Then you really do need supplies, I'm sorry that we were of no help. I'm pretty sure we weren't contacted." Anybody else might have sounded insulted but Squall is grateful that he is speaking with Kiros Seagil who is immune to that kind of silliness.

"They didn't have time, it would have been on such short notice that you would have arrived after the battle was over." Squall pauses realizing something for the first time. "They might have called you anyway for medical help, and now I'm wondering why they didn't think of that. But it turned out after all that they didn't need that kind of medical help anyway."

"Hyne Squall," Now Kiros does not sound so level. "What kind of a battle are we discussing?"

"We can give you a full explanation when we arrive, 'til then I'll just give you a bare bones report."

Kiros hesitates but says. "That will do. What is it you were getting to about this Squall?" It has not occurred to Kiros that the identity of Savior would be the point. In fact Squall is kind of surprised that Kiros would not ask that to begin with out of principal.

"The identity of Savior is Seifer Almasy." Squall doesn't pause to let this little bit set in. "He has been deemed redeemed and accepted into Garden as a SeeD." Squall adds 'Finally' only in his mind. "So we need you to turn off all of the wanted screens in Esthar." They would probably be replaced by soap commercials or something, Esthar rarely has any crime of the level of Seifer's betrayal three years ago. And that was only on the screens because of Laguna's irrational protectiveness.

Laguna… Squall is unsure if he should tell Kiros about Laguna right now, it may have to wait until he can talk to the man in person. In fact Squall decides that he will do it that way, that way seems best.

"Is this true Squall?" Kiros does not sound as if he has just taken a truckload of information into his already stuffed brain. Squall knows that Kiros is troubled simply because he does not believe this right off the bat.

"It is. We think that two and a half years of protection outweighs approximately one month of betrayal." Especially since the Traitor is dead now, he died and now he's dead.

"… very well Squall, I believe you." Kiros's appreciation for what Seifer has achieved sets in and Squall imagines that the older man is smiling now. "I would shake SeeD Almasy's hand for this, it is quite impressive redeeming one's self under cover as well as everybody's individual noses."

"Yeah." Squall is suddenly unsure if he appreciates what Seifer has accomplished even as much as Kiros seems to and that makes him suddenly feel inadequate. "It really is."

"Is there anything else Squall because I'm not sure if I can handle anything more?" Squall smiles and Kiros is probably smiling too though expecting a negative.

Poor man.

"Everything I have not reported yet will be reported to you when we arrive. Expect us in a couple of days."

The Kiros's silence tells Squall that he understands that he hasn't been given a complete report. Squall is grateful that Kiros is as close to him as he is. If it were anybody else then they would probably pretend to have another obligation to avoid it.

Because this is important, and Squall really hopes that Kiros will be able to handle it.

At least Ward will handle it, that man can handle anything. If Kiros could not take the report for whatever reason then they would simply give it to Ward –it is not as if the man lost the ability to hear or read.

"Very well Squall," Kiros finally replies, "if you think the rest of the report needs to be made in person then I trust your judgment. I'll have the wanted images of… SeeD Almasy now is it?" Squall smiles because Kiros only asks to make sure and that his inquiry means no kind of offense to Seifer.

_I wonder who else will be like this about it?_

"SeeD Almasy, correct." It feels strange, but Squall feels happy saying that.

"I will have his wanted images replaced and the message announced that he is no longer an enemy. Not everybody is going to feel the way you at B-Garden must feel-"

"I'm sure about that."

"-but our authorities will not seek or arrest him. If you say he is an ally then he will be treated as such. Legally at least."

"Thank you Kiros." Squall thinks about this before he decides its okay for him to say it and it may not be but anyway he says it. "I'm glad it's you I'm talking to about this, Laguna wouldn't have let me finish."

Kiros makes a laugh that Squall is unsure if he is happy to hear. "You're right, but at least he would be here. Probably the widest difference between your father and I is that he actually enjoys running a whole country. I am not as comfortable as I am capable of being the stand in."

"I wish that I was just a stand in," Squall says feeling he can complain openly to this man without being criticized for it.

"Well," and Squall can tell already that Kiros is only joking which upsets him. "You could always fire yourself, elevate somebody else to your position then hire yourself to a lower status." Kiros speaks as if doing that had not occurred to Squall and that is really not more than a joke.

"Well, I'll think about it."

"I will speak with you in a couple of days Squall."

"Until then Kiros."

Squall hangs up first and allows himself to stare ahead at nothing for a long time. There's a stack of paperwork next to him on his desk which he won't so much as glance at on this day. He understands it's much shorter than it might have been if not for Xu. Perhaps he could just leave it alone on account of more urgent business and let Xu deal with it after he is no longer in charge?

Squall will decide tomorrow, and he probably will not tell Rinoa about that little scheme.

Squall nestles his head in his arms on his desk and allows himself to doze off. This time he will not dream, and he will not be transported elsewhere until he wakes up and he transports his own self.

**The Woman Griever**

It feels so good to be yourself again.

When possessing somebody –even when it is a corpse you are possessing- you must become like the one you possess. Many sorceresses have not trusted that kind of magic for fear that they might lose themselves, bit by bit to the one they create the symbiosis with. To possess a dead body is especially deadly because the potential side effect is that they will be resurrected by your power –if your power is of godlike magnitude of course- and they will take on your power and eliminate your ego.

Ostentat could never have accomplished this with Ultimecia of course, and of course Ultimecia believes that such a thing could never happen to her anyway. But she has to admit internally that the process had begun. Though Ostentat never did have any life restored Ultimecia was not feeling like herself after a while. The ego of Cornucopia Ostentat so much like a pile of ivy spreading endlessly with the vibrancy of supernatural termites was a powerful thing even in death.

Given the ego she had she might have thought she was Hyne herself, and Ultimecia can't stop laughing at the stupid dead girl over it.

It was a shame she lost the body to Seifer Almasy so much sooner than she was ready. But such are the casualties of war; men, women, children… and their little dogs too.

And of course she must remind herself of Almasy, and twice in one thought at that.

She admits that what she saw happen was a shock to her. She was under the impression that by snuffing out his pride completely he would simply die. Perhaps he would smolder as if burned from the inside out by a chemical, perhaps he would explode in a grotesque display like a blossom of curded red paint.

But instead he became a weapon against her with power she never did plant in him. Something is awfully wrong, something is deeply wrong.

Something she doesn't understand and yet she knows she had a hand in it. She is responsible for his transformation.

And what of the boy Grave? Will he turn out the same way and turn against her like yet another outraged ex-lover? Will her lover be kept captive in his mind until their deaths?

For when the harborer of an Esper dies they take the Esper with it, the mind is the world's most complicated deadly cage and even an ancient spirit can't easily find their way out.

Considering that brings the hottest kind of pain in her heart. If she were a physical thing her knees would buckle beneath her and her wings would become useless black flags at her back. But she is ectoplasm as of now, so she only feels the pain and the humiliation of failure before she has failed, before she knows if she will fail or not.

Not again. She must have him back or she can never live happily again. When he is back then the SeeD's can die, they are a high priority true but not as high as he. She must have her husband back, she cannot survive without Griever.

On her throne, the throne not reserved for royalty but much higher more egotistical authority Ultimecia's eyes pour forth black liquid as thin as tears -though it feels as thick as tar. It runs down her face faster than water would on earth and it soaks her dress from her breasts to her belly to her loins to her butt down her legs to her toes. It runs down the steps up to her throne and in a matter of minutes is a thick pool covering her floor.

Faces rise up, the faces of all the men and women she has fucked to enslave and they rise up as new monsters. These are the men and women who did not survive the battle against B-Garden, their bodies may have died and the curse may have been lifted from those who did survive but these ones are not so lucky. These souls are slaves in death and they are manifest again by the sorrow of the villainess. They are soldiers as powerful as she is desperate and despite her own profound ego she is desperate, more desperate than any human could ever understand, could ever feel themselves.

And they do feel her sorrow, they feel it so strongly that she is the heroine to them; she is the good leader, the matriarch who will rule them and only command them in favor of justice.

Because it is justice to her that her husband be brought back to her, and why should it not be?

The blackness that has soaked her gown rises from and so much like a candle melting in reverse it imitates the shape of her lover. The wings spread out like liquid spilling in a wing pattern and the bestial features are so grotesque and round but once it is finished it is uncanny, and loins shaped just like his hanging ready if she wants this.

The size and matter in which it is created make it obvious this is an imitation Griever but her grief for him creates a fine likeness. It stays atop her panting longingly, desperate to please her. It is hard to tell if it looks like a lover or a sexual predator as it is poised over her, but that may only be her own unusual position. She cries beneath a beast but it is really a false likeness of her husband.

She is pleased, happy that her servant would try to do this but it will not do, it just will not.

…And come to think of it is awfully offensive.

Though the black grief is still stained over her body and clothes her face is suddenly different; it is as if one of the SeeD's were crawling over her in a position ready to take her by force. She scowls harder than Leonhart or Almasy ever has and creates a sound from her throat that could never be called beautiful, never sexual or affectionate.

The imitation of her dear lover explodes from her and the drops scatter over the other soldiers still rising from the pool of grief. It is absorbed by them and they are strengthened just the tiniest bit by the sacrifice of the offender.

Ultimecia rises from her throne and floats with wings spread like the flaps of a zeppelin torn asunder. A wave of amazing hatred pulses from the sorceress and once it has passed over the figures they raise from the liquid completely and they are whole for her, every detail they had in life restored. She has a complete army again.

But this one is magic, this one will not fail.

This time the SeeDs will fall, they have to.

They have to.

**Naming Names**

After they became lovers Joselyn decided that she was happiest –and Grave was presumably the same – when they were having sex. She thinks they felt that way simply because they had wanted it so much, somehow in withdrawal for something they had never had before. Now they have relieved each other of that feeling they are simply happiest when they are confined together. Sex has become the norm to them and that is what they are comfortable with, and so it shall remain until the day death claims them both.

As of now they are lounging on the sofa together; Joselyn sits upright with her hair undone, one hand in Graves hair and the other holding the library book about Esper mythology –the name was changed recently by authority of Terra. Grave lies across the couch with his head in her lap leaning his face into the groove of her groin. His smile is the only thing that shows he is awake.

The door seems to knock on its own because it is a knock they have never heard before. They look to each other showing one another their identical surprise and without saying what surprises them, 'It's not Cody.'

Grave sits up as Joselyn slams the book shut, "It's unlocked," she says.

The door slides open and Joselyn in particular is surprised to see the Headmaster. He's dressed in leather and a fur collar just as he was when he reappeared yesterday. Outside the door he looks still uninvited despite Joselyn's implication that he is. This room technically belongs to him anyway does it not?

Grave is the one to say, "come in," and no longer hesitant and neither hasty Squall comes inside. He sits in the love seat with disproportionately large arm rests across from them. Joselyn moves only her head while Grave takes more interest in watching the Headmaster being in their private quarters.

He has been wanting something from the man after all, though Joselyn doubts this is what their leader is here for.

Squall feels not half the awkwardness the teenagers do so he speaks plainly and at once. Dressed casually and leaning forward the same way with his elbows on his knees they know this is not about a business proposal or any other kind of mission. He is behaving like he has something personal to say, but what on Gaia could he have to say to them on a personal level?

"When I was away I was shown visions. I was not hallucinating –except perhaps at first I was, in fact I'm pretty sure I was hallucinating at first- in any event I stopped hallucinating." Joselyn is unsure about that but she is confident that Grave believes him, and that Grave would want her to believe him too if only for the sake of argument and so she shall. "And I think that I am obligated to tell you two about the last one I had, the very last thing I saw before I reappeared yesterday."

Grave is sitting the same way as the Headmaster but Joselyn hasn't noticed for Squall has her still and stable attention. She sets the book down on the short table in between the couch and the huge chair and she assumes the same position as both men.

"I've looked up your records and I think it proves that what I saw is true. Joselyn Abgestossen; you were found just outside of Trabia Garden with much of your memory missing, you said you were deeply annoyed to be found in a skirt."

Joselyn doesn't need to look to Grave to know he's cracking a smile and that irks her just a little bit.

"And you," the Headmaster looks at Grave, more severe now, "you crawled out of your own grave."

Joselyn looks at Grave then but she misses the action of his face falling, she would not have had to look at him to know his face fell.

It takes her approximately two seconds to conjure up an argument with him for when this report to them is over. She already knows she'll sound harsher than she probably should and as of now she's not letting that bother her.

Despite her distracting thoughts, she listens clearly to the Headmaster as he continues. "You two met once three years ago just before Time Compression began. You watched a musical performance by your brother." Squall gestures with his eyes to Grave. "Whose name is Leo, he was the lead singer of a band called Black Blood Vessel at the age of twelve."

Grave's eyes are wide now but on the outside he is otherwise unchanged. Joselyn, though still aggravated with Grave looks at him as if he is the hilt of Excalibur.

She still manages to pay attention of course.

"You had a candle lit dinner upstairs. Since you were a cook in the kitchen the cooks gave you free food. This took place in Dollet during a yearly festival; you Joselyn were visiting with your parents. You didn't seem to mind wearing the skirt at the time."

If this news were not so profound that joke might have been taken better. Squall takes that as consolation and continues without any jerk in his voice.

"The place was called Tackey's." Squall pauses trying to decide whether he should say what he is thinking or not. "I hope it doesn't sound wrong somehow that I'm telling you this, but your first kiss was at the top of the stairs, I thought you would want to know that."

They say nothing of their gratefulness. They shouldn't have too, would rather not.

Squall looks to Joselyn. "Your parents are still alive, they live in Timber, I will happily make arrangements for you to see them if you decide you want to."

Joselyn decides in an instant that she does want that but not yet. She would rather survive a cataclysm, _then_ talk to her parents than see her before one and listen to them grieve over her safety.

And they would not doubt judge her lover on top of that, this she is not looking forward too.

Squall looks back to Grave. "Your name is Rafer Rallis; originally you are a citizen of the Dollet Dukedom. Your brother is a success now as you must know since they played at the last Garden Festival. I don't know anything about your parents except that they survived Time Compression so they may still be alive somewhere, probably Galbadia, we are searching for them now."

"Thank you," Grave says before he can stop himself, and think of something sarcastic to say instead.

"Of course because of this matter being personal and… unique, we will exact your meetings with them at your leisure unless if it is impossible." They don't seem to recoil in any way so he believes they understand and they do. "But if you would take my opinion into account –and you don't have to- I would rather you wait until this conflict with the sorceress is over. I realize that anybody, you or they, could die in the conflict and make the meeting impossible but all things considered it would be better for that to happen after this is over. If you can wait then I will appreciate that." They answer him before he can finish.

"We want to wait," they say at the same time.

Squall stands but he is only almost finished. "We will continue searching for your parents, we predict that they are somewhere in the middle class region of Dollet but we are looking everywhere we can. Rallis isn't a very common name in that part of the world."

"Thank you," Grave says again though this time it's forced, he already said thank you for exactly the same thing a moment ago, he feels very silly saying it again.

"That's all, I'll report to you about this if anything else comes up." Without saluting or waiting for them to salute Squall lets himself out of the apartment. The door closes behind him and they don't have a chance to say good-bye.

They sit together frozen, looking at the door as if waiting for the Headmaster to come back in and just say that he was kidding about all of that. Because it is hard to believe; it feels like the pupu alien just flew into their apartment and left a whole lot of confetti and produce all over their carpet. It all sounds too good, too romantic to be real.

_**EG**_

After about five minutes we still face the funny looking chair where the Headmaster sat minutes ago and we say nothing. I want so much for Joselyn to say something because I don't know where to begin; there is so much to think about now, so much more than we are used to.

Rafer Rallis… I would say it out loud but I am dead determined to let Joselyn speak first. It feels true, and I feel that if Joselyn were to call me that right now it would feel normal. But I am not sure if it would feel right… I suppose what I really want is for her to call me that just once so I can know how it would feel.

For the first time I imagine Joselyn's face behind nothing but candle light and it feels like a real memory, in fact it is. I know it is a real memory.

I have old memories of Joselyn.

I'm smiling uncontrollably now but I am not sure if she's looking.

"Grave?" Joselyn asks me finally. She sounds unnaturally timid.

"Yes?" I turn to her; she's frowning, looking prematurely disappointed about something.

"Do you want me to call you that now?"

She sounds so disappointed, I think she would rather not call me that and she is worrying that I would want her to.

"No." I assure her at once, I scoot up against her and rub one of her divine knees. My name is Grave now; let me still be Grave." A thought occurs and luckily Joselyn notices so she says nothing until I have spoken again. "If my parents are still alive and they want to call me that then fine, you might even call me that when they're around. But I want to still be Grave to you."

Joselyn pounces on me but not with enough force to knock me over –I know by now that if she has me on his back that's how she wants me- she has her arms wrapped around my head and my face smushed between her breasts. I wrap my arms around her waist and stroke her hips with my fingers. "I'm glad," she says.

An unusual thing is happening now; normally when we're in such a position one of us is rolled onto the rolled ones back. But right now Joselyn wants for us to be rigid… and apparently she doesn't want me to talk.

I don't; she has apparently taken an unspoken promise from me that I will not move my face from her boobs. But I want so much to move my face away and look at her because I feel warm drops against the part in my hair, and when Joselyn speaks her voice isn't steady as it normally is.

"Grave," she whispers my name and sounds grateful that she's saying that instead of Rafer. "Why didn't tell me?" I almost laugh, she just asked me a question but she is keeping my mouth shut in one of the most effective ways imaginable. "You know I wanted to know why you went by that name, why couldn't you tell me after we started fucking?" She doesn't sound outraged when she explete's but just as sad as before she did. "You know that I wanted to know, and I think I deserve to hear about it now." Now she does sound a touch outraged, but too lax from sadness to be loud.

At first I do nothing but what she would predict; I nuzzle my face against her breasts and try to take one in my mouth through her clothes. I know that she enjoys the feeling but this is not what she wants from me right now, she will let me have what I want because she knows that her body and sex relaxes me –my most intimate confessions, thoughts deepest in my brain only come after we have.

This is not meant to distract her from what she's demanding from me. I know she'll steadily demand it from me –albeit silently- until I give in. And I shall give in soon; I will give in when the memory surfaces completely.

As soon as I can feel that rain again, the soil that almost went down my throat and everything else I speak. "My first memory is waking up from death inside a brittle coffin." I reluctantly turn my face away when I start speaking. "All I knew at the time was that I was stuck in a small box so I pushed at the walls and beat against the top with my fists and my knees… after hearing what the Headmaster just said I think it must have been my parents who buried me because the coffin wasn't sealed, they might have wanted me to be able to get out in case they turned out to be hasty."

"I'm glad," she whispers so quietly over me, she strokes my hair. She's careful to breathe quietly so that she can hear my whispers.

"When I managed to squirm out of the coffin I found out why it was so easy; the soil was mud, but it wasn't just mud," I am careful to correct. "All of the soil above the coffin was mud but around that the dirt was firmer, I could get a hold on it. It was like they dug the hole in firm dirt then filled the hole up with mud." Joselyn's hold on me becomes firmer and I nuzzle against her more, she strokes my hair with stronger strokes.

"The soil on top of the mud was firm again and the grass was not interrupted. I think that the top part of the soil must have been lifted before they started to dig then they just plopped it back on to finish. When I finally got out I was really grateful that it was raining, I had never been as cold before as I was then but I stood in the rain for a few minutes just to get all of the dirt off of me."

"Why didn't you tell me your real name?" She sounds accusatory but I think she only sounds that way because she can't help it.

"The gravestone didn't have a name on it…" This is not a memory I ever conjure on purpose, when I conjure it by accident I try to think of something else at once. So it isn't until now that I realize myself why I have gone by Grave, why it started to feel like my name.

"That's why," I look up from her breasts and she doesn't seem to know exactly what I'm talking about. "Because my own gravestone has been my first memory, it was the only thing I could ever think of for a long time. Since I didn't know my given name and that was the first word that ever came to my mind it was natural that I would just say that."

Joselyn gives my hair another long and gentle stroke before she asks, "Has been?"

"The Headmaster reminded me of something," I admit only distantly wondering if I'm blushing –though I may already be red in the face. "I can't remember anything else from that night but I believe it happened because I can remember your face behind the candlelight. You don't look exactly the same anymore but I know it's you."

She surprises me when she asks. "How do I look different?" She seems to be challenging me; as if to warn me that if I give her an unsavory answer I will be scolded later.

I know at once how to answer that, "you look more womanly."

Her lips and her eyebrows elevate together and I know she believes me and loves the answer. She continues to stroke my hair but she doesn't move my face back to her breasts.

"Are you remembering anything?" I ask her genuinely hoping that she has, she could perhaps jog my memory for me and I for her if each we remembered something about it.

I don't think I can honestly say I care about any memories but of that night, not right now at least.

"Not yet," she replies still wearing her smile and she looks as though it is not a big deal that she remembers nothing now. But I feel something sink in me when she says that. It must show on my face because her face sinks too. "What's wrong?" She asks.

I suddenly feel like shutting up for the rest of the day but when she wants something from me I can't resist but give it to her. I imagine it's no different when the famished cat spots a stationary shrew, plump with an unnatural amount of delicious and nourishing blood.

"I hoped you would." I pause, "I thought you would," I correct.

Suddenly she smiles and rolls her eyes upward then she sighs as if she were expecting something profoundly wrong –which it is actually, it feels very wrong to me- she rolls backward and pulls me up so we are face to face and she kisses me, a reward kiss for my reflexive sweetness.

I put both of my hands on her head and run my fingers all the way through her long, long hair at least a dozen times before she stops kissing me. She looks up to me adoringly and she gives my hair similar attention to what I give hers. She looks as if I just spread something smooth and warm all over her.

I can't be that fucking sweet can I?

"Jog my memory," she suggests and I feel her throbbing against me when she sees me brighten. "Tell me every little detail and I think I'll remember."

**The Black Rain**

Above the clouds of the city of Esthar new clouds are blossoming; they grow and spread against each other without merging. Though they are clouds now they are solid as steel and as black as grief. The whiteness of the real clouds does not become gray with the blackness they are hiding and they suddenly cease to move. Nobody notices this now, but they will notice tomorrow, a handful of astrologers will notice when it is too late, fifteen minutes after they clock-in in the morning.

With vision so strong it can pierce more than just the clouds the minions of Ultimecia's grief act as her eyes to watch the entire city. She knows they are coming here again and she wants to see everything. She wants to see just the right moment to exact her next attack. She wants to see them at the lowest disadvantage possible. She will need to hit them before they can get new recruits but after they have docked and halted the academies flying mechanisms.

In less than an hour her entire army is floating above Esthar out of the range of any detection. And once they are all present and fully formed a single black spot travels away from Esthar, still skillfully staying out of sight from anybody.

It travels hundreds of miles ignoring the notion of hiding when obviously there is nobody to see it. The black shape on its way to its destination takes a shape; it is a black manta ray the size of a car with the head of a woman. The way it moves it seems to be swimming by the way its wings and tail ripple, by the way moves and brushes against its back.

It hides in the clouds again as soon as there are clouds to hide behind when it has found Balamb Garden. She admits there isn't really any practical reason to send this sentry. She might argue to herself that she must have one soldier following the enemy but that's silly and her real reason is not so practical.

She looks through the armor of the academy into the apartment quarters and zeroes in on her lover. She doesn't see the boy who harbors him on top of his own lover. She doesn't see that he's whispering details of recently recovered memory into her hair and stroking her hair and throbbing against her with a different kind of interest.

She sees her husband raging against Lich and Salamander. Though he is more powerful than either of them individually he struggles against them both and though he can't escape them without help he struggles on with a limitless supply of strength. But their strength is limitless too regrettably, together they are too much for him and Ultimecia hates to admit that.

At least they never did get their third partner; the two in there already are too much trouble already.

That thought having occurred Ultimecia decides to keep this sentry on watch at Balamb Garden. At a safe distance of course, always at a great distance. Close enough to see but not close enough to be seen. Not until they are weak enough to be struck.

Ultimecia's army grows stronger as her grief builds watching her lover suffer and struggle to break his prison. It hurts so much to watch this but it will be worth it, every second she suffers from this her army becomes stronger and stronger and stronger.

By the time they are in Esthar the army will be too much for them. Even the two demons of Balamb Garden will not be able to stop the army of her grief.

_Also I forgot to mention that I have an original story for Grave and Joselyn now. I won't write it for quite a while but it's in my head, in case that excites any of you._


	17. Esthar

_Disclaimer & A/N: I don't own Final Fantasy 8 or any other things that I don't own that have ever been included in this story. I apologize for such a short installment everybody. This one is only about 17,000 words because I was really depressed for the first time and I was having a hard time dealing with it. I hope it is sufficiently impressive that I accomplished this much._

_I think I know the answer_

_I stumbled on and all the world_

_Fell down_

_And all the sky went silent_

_Cracked like glass and slowly_

_Tumbled to the ground_

_They say if you look hard_

_You'll find your way back home_

_Born without a friend_

_And bound to die alone_

_I'm thinking of your highness_

_And crying long upon the loss_

_I've found_

_And on the plus and minus_

_Zero chance of ever_

_Turning this around_

_Why doesn't anyone believe_

_In loneliness_

_Stand up and everyone will see_

_Your holiness_

_They say if you look hard_

_You'll find your way back home_

_Born without a friend_

_And bound to die alone_

_Zero Chance, by Soundgarden_

**Part Seventeen: Esthar**

**The Third**

_Grave_

I jolt up awake when he whispers my name to me. Joselyn looks up simultaneously awake showing me she's ready to roll off of the couch and fight at a moments notice. She thinks in this moment that I have sensed an intruder and she is about to leap from the couch without even letting me get off of her.

I squeeze her hips affectionately but not sexually and the electricity in her runs lower. Her bangs are brushed away and I see that both of her eyes are wide. She is aware and fully awake but she knows there isn't any immediate danger now. She waits for another signal from me.

I wait to hear that voice again, that new voice that feels as familiar to me as my own skin.

_Grave_

"Salamander," I speak out loud, Joselyn should hear my side of the conversation at least.

_Grave, the demon is becoming too much. Though our strength does not wane nor does his our grips on him are not perfect. The more he struggles the greater his chance of slipping from us increases. We need more help Grave, we need the third._

I feel Salamander and Lich loosen their grips for just a moment to show me what he means and I feel it at once. Inside my brain I feel a great spiritual muscle writhe and push at the walls of my cranium. I grab my head because it feels like he might bust out of me physically if I don't help hold him inside. Joselyn grabs me by the waist to support my weight and I feel her hands so much more than I ever have before.

I don't notice at once when Salamander and Lich hold him again because I see black and multicolored checker patterns where Joselyn belongs for about ten minutes. As soon as I can see her again Joselyn looks into my eyes like she fears that I will die -and that she will not know at once I have died because I always look like this. I kiss her on the nose as soon as I feel fine again. I breathe heavily as soon as I feel alive and tangible again.

Salamander speaks when he feels I can listen.

_I apologize for that Grave but I know you would want to know what you are dealing with. Though his strength doesn't become greater his rage does and so he struggles more wildly every second we hold onto him. We need more help Grave, we need the third._

"Fine who's the third and what do I do?" I know that Joselyn must be worrying about me because that didn't sound reasonable or calculated at all. But I know Salamander should be trusted –contrary to his reputation. He will only make me do something dangerous if he knows I'll survive, and if it is necessary to victory.

_Allow me to take control briefly. Lich can hold him without worrying when I take the place he wants. I know where he is, I will only go to him with your consent but I need that consent now. I feel him, he is closer than he has been to us for a long time and he is waiting for me. If I don't go to him now he will decide I am a fool once and for all and he will refuse to help us. He is much more stubborn than Lich, please Grave, now._

Joselyn takes my hands off of my head and puts them around her shoulders. She puts her forehead against mine and looks directly into my eyes. I remember when she would try to do this just to look at them, but that is over now. I kind of wish it was still just for that, she looks so grave now.

"What's wrong Grave?" She asks and for some reason I want not to answer her, but I will, I will anyway.

"I have to go, I think that I'll be back soon," I say nothing more and she seems to be waiting for me to say more, but that is all there is to say. Salamander sounds so urgent I can't explain it all to her now, and I don't need to. But I need to say something.

"What else?" She asks proving that she thinks there is a lot more to this.

"Salamander and Lich need help, I need to leave so they can get somebody to help, I'll tell you the rest when I get back." I give her a kiss that feels so platonic that I want to make up for it when I get back. She lets me move away without grabbing hold of me again, I don't look back to her because I have to leave now, if I don't then Salamander might decide he doesn't need my consent and transform me, scorching my apartment with Joselyn in it.

_Nonsense_

But I find that hard to believe, Salamanders urgency betrays that. He may be inside of me, we may share our thoughts and feelings but I can't help but think that we don't share everything. I believe that somewhere in my mind there is a pocket of information that is still completely private, and the same thing goes for my Espers. Salamander doesn't show me everything, Lich doesn't show me everything, and the new one will not show me everything.

And the demon shows me almost nothing but his rage.

So I move to the balcony as fast as I can as if Joselyn has leapt off of it to her death and I want to catch her before she hits the spinning razor halo that keeps this academy afloat. I wish I could bring her with me, this is important and if it's important then she should be with me to see everything.

But I can't have my lover scorched to death now can I?

Just as I imagine Joselyn doing in that sickening image that makes me swift I step up on the rail of our balcony. The wind is so much stronger once I step up that it almost knocks me back down to the floor. But I stay steady on my socked feet and I slide only an inch to the left in the direction the wind is blowing.

Rather than just let myself fall like a suicide or a drunk I bend my knees and I crouch down. I look down on that spinning halo that would obliterate me if magic would not intervene with my fall in some way or another. I trust Salamander to come blazing from my skin and fly away to wherever it is we need to go before I hit that, but my survival instincts can't help but plan a float spell if I get too close. I hope this doesn't insult him.

Without a third thought I leap from the balcony and I allow myself to fall watching the spinning blade all the while just waiting to cast float. The wind is so much stronger going down than when I was standing up there and I wonder if it will push me against the wall of Garden before I actually hit that blade.

Halfway down the fall I feel Salamander come away form the demon and merge with my skin from the inside out. I start to leave behind flame tails in my fall and they flap behind me like so many bright banners. Salamander bursts out of my completely and the spot where I was is miles behind me now; it was as if we left my back the same way a mouse launches itself from the door of it's home at the base of the wall.

Balamb Garden is hundreds of miles away in a matter of seconds but Joselyn feels like she is much farther away than that, and I can tell under the circumstances Salamander can't spare any pity for me or her. We will be back together soon he thinks to me, but she should be here, she should be able to be with me for this.

**Terrato**

At a distance great enough that it will not be detected by the great fire spirit the black manta ray with the head of a woman follows. Nothing notices it, even when it isn't hiding. It won't be detected but it will see and hear everything in the exchange to come; the sensory organs of a goddess after all are greater than that of an Esper. That bit of arrogance on the villainess's part is justified.

_**EG**_

Man can never appreciate how fine the wind feels to fire. To Salamander the great living flame there is no greater thrill, no higher high, than to fly against the wind over the ocean. The only human who could understand is Grave who experiences this with him even now –and who so unfairly is comparing it to having sex with Joselyn; not to insult his harborer but to compare this freedom to making love is such a human flaw, such non-evolved ignorance.

But it can't be helped he supposes, Grave, after all, feels something for Joselyn that Salamander has only ever felt at two times; he once felt it for his mischief ages ago, now he feels it in his freedom. He felt it two days ago when he helped Grave assist in the victory against Ultimecia, he feels it now.

He feels it because he is not summoned.

Salamander will preach until his destruction –assuming that ever comes- that Grave is Hyne's gift to Espers. His unusual power allows for them to experience life as they once did before the humans learned how to harness them. When summoned they are allowed a limited amount of time and it is only ever to assist in battle. But Grave is different, Grave has a way of summoning with no time limit and no commands; all you have to do is merge with him and cooperate as to who will have command over the united bodies.

And now Grave has agreed to give Salamander command and he wishes it could last longer than it will. But he did not lie about his friend's harsh judgmental thinking. If he does not go to him now then he will lose his chance to convince him that this is the best thing to do, if he fails then the foreseeable end will lean much farther out of their favor.

And that will take some doing because Salamander has changed since the last time he saw Terrato. The world was different then and he was so much more a rogue, a Locke-like troublemaker whose luck guided him to victory more than his plans ever did. Since they parted, Terrato is no doubt fiercer and less gullible, definitely less trusting.

It will take much to convince Terrato that he has a real plan now; he is not just operating on luck.

In the past Terrato admired Salamander: It was not until their last rendezvous that Terrato discovered that Salamander almost never planned his successes and that luck was simply on his side much of the time. Terrato, who never did believe that luck was real decided he could no longer be party to plots that depended so much on chance, he would not side with a spirit who deceives even his allies when it does not benefit the mischief they created together.

Despite Terrato's zeal against him Salamander knows he has a chance to get his other old ally back, he knows well because if there was no chance then Terrato would not be waiting for him now. He would not be looking directly at him from the nearest body of land a great and ancient shape on the horizon. He would not be planning just what to say.

Salamander stops just in front of his old comrade, he floats over the beach and faces Terrato at mouth level and he waits -Terrato was always the first to speak in their serious dialogues and Salamander imagines this is not something that will have changed. Steam erupts from below Salamander when his rippling body comes closer to the surface of the water. Salamander is grinning uncontrollably in the state he is in being merged with Grave.

Terrato who has no face is looking on at his friend in disgust. He has decided already that he does not want to submit to Salamander once again but he must voice his opinion. Terrato was sometimes a fool in the past; from time to time he actually thought he could change Salamanders mind. Salamander is not sure if that is what he is aiming for now but he doubts it, he probably just wants to speak his mind for the sake of insult.

Terrato is coiled such that he appears to be many earth spirits piled atop one another like an orgy of snakes. His skin is the color of sand and ribbed like an earth worm. More legs than can be counted jut out of him looking like spines; the appendages of a millipede god. When he moves over the land or crawls beneath the earth they move like minions carrying him and softening the earth around him. These legs move with the breeze now and would appear to be hairs to somebody who knows nothing about him.

Terrato has no eyes, his mouth is his ultimate sensory organ, he knows it is Salamander before him because his is heat like no other; he knows that Salamander is waiting because he is stationary, even on a molecular level.

And he knows he must not trust his old friend because he can smell the glowing red smoke brought on by Grave. He knows his friend is now officially corrupt because he has quite literally _become one_ with one of the oppressive humans.

"You stink," Terrato says with the voice that would remind no one of a worm, a moose god perhaps. "You reek Salamander. You are putrid with humanity and sour by the corruption of that boy in your bosom. You are no comrade of mine anymore. You look as frightening and evil as the demon he harbors."

"You feel the demon." Salamander is excited that Terrato will need no explanation about why he is here for him.

"I smell the demon Salamander," Terrato corrects with divine annoyance. "I smell that wicked black lion and the pollution-like jism he leaks for longing for his wife. But I will not help you Salamander because it is all for naught. Better the oppression end and end with it than save the humans and continue the slavery."

"You have avoided it." Salamander feels Grave stir, he does not deny the notion of slavery.

"But I feel for my fellow spirits," Terrato says sounding insulted, his feelings apparently questioned by one of his fellow spirits of all people. "I am proud of what we are and we are demeaned by giving ourselves to them, by being trapped and obeying what they command. I would have us all die or have our oppression end."

"It will end Terrato; this boy will bring that about." Salamander promises knowing Terrato will only spit contempt at him again.

"I knew you would say that, you always said things like that and you never knew if you were right. You didn't know then, you never did and I am sure that you are just as clueless now."

"It matters not now if I am clueless because I know this!" Even Grave is surprised by Salamanders outrage but because of his position inside of Salamander, and Terrato's lack of a face neither can show properly their surprise. Salamander with his unchangeable Grave's grin looks demented as he shouts but they both feel that he is not, he is zealous but still sane.

"I know this boy is our only hope. He is the only one who can put a stop to the oppression brought on by the humans, and he is necessary in the fight against each our sworn enemy. He and his lover are the flaws of time compression, and with them the great witch can be defeated again.

Terrato is silent for a long time where he would be expected to retort so Salamander continues.

"You are right to say I don't know what I am doing, you are right to say that I never really did. You are right because I cannot foresee the outcome, but I can guess, I can make a perfectly logical educated guess and my guess tells me this boy Grave can end this."

Terrato is silent again for a long time but Salamander will have no more to say until Terrato replies. It is at points in the conversation like this one that Grave feels annoyed that he can only lay nestled inside Salamander, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed like a count in the coffin.

Finally, Terrato speaks and as Salamander might have predicted it is a brief questioning. "You say this boy is our only chance to be free again?"

"Yes."

"Salamander, as soon as I discovered your method I hated you for it but your results have normally been impossible to argue against." Grave feels struck by Terrato's frankness more than Salamander for some reason. "I take it what you need from me is to help you contain the demon within him correct?"

"Correct." Salamander sounds excited now and he can't hide it, yet Terrato still finds it in him to take his former comrade seriously.

"And he wants this too; you have not tricked him as well?"

Salamander hesitates and Grave knows why because he feels how insulted his Guardian feels to hear that. "No tricking. I am in no position to be a trickster now I think. This situation leaves no room for entertainment."

Terrato pauses again but not for as long and when he does speak again Grave wonders if he heard him right. "Then let the boy show me how much I am needed, I will judge your situation based on his presentation."

Grave only has two seconds to take this in before Salamander answers for him, "agreed."

Salamander dissolves around Grave and he falls out of the billowing flame that was Salamanders body and he is in control of himself again. It is not a far fall, he hits the ground hard and he topples over but sustains no injury and only a splash of pain. He stands up and this is the last thing Salamander observes in the real world before he is inside Graves mind again and holding back the demon with Lich.

_**EG**_

I don't want to get up, I really don't. I could pretend I'm bowing since I am in front of what is essentially a god. But I am not bowing; I am lying down after a fall. I am not inclined to bow down to anybody anyway, not even Joselyn, whom I am willing to kneel for under certain circumstances.

"Stand boy, plead your case." It may just be the cut I feel from called a boy but Terrato feels an awful lot more arrogant to me than he does to Salamander. I think this is just because Salamander still feels affection for him and doesn't want to think badly of him.

I suppose I'll have to be egregious _for_ him then.

I push myself up just enough to take a deep breath and stretch. "Give me a minute wyrm; Salamander gave me a hard fall."

I feel a pulse of distaste from Terrato and a scolding from Salamander –Lich chooses to show me no attention- but neither of them actually speak to me. I take my time getting up; dusting myself off and to stretch my muscles, bones, and organs back precisely where they belong.

When I look up to Terrato I pretend he can see me with his mouth –because he essentially can- because I know he has no face. If I didn't know that then I would have to spend a few seconds to look for the right thing to focus my eyes on so as not to be rude. Honestly, I don't think looking at him anywhere would impress him, he probably thinks I'm being rude looking at him at all.

I know though that he hates me for harboring his old comrades. I will have to demand an in depth conversation with Salamander about what this oppression and slavery is all about.

Just a guess, I wonder if the fact that most Espers have been captured, and once inside us they cannot leave voluntarily or communicate with us. Just a guess, but it is probably a valid one.

"Terrato!" I shout upwards and so the debate begins.

"Be quick boy I may no longer have eternity to go about my business."

"Fine. You need to know if Salamanders chore is a worthy one correct?"

"Correct," he sounds awfully angry now, very impatient. The way his mouth moves when he speaks makes it look like he is planning to eat me. I'm glad I can get to the point about this.

"Then why don't I just show you what we're up against?" Lich twitches inside me and Salamander almost lets go of the demon, almost.

_No Grave! _I just have to smile; Salamander clearly was expecting me to take a different angle. But I see no other angle, what else could I propose? Well this is what he gets. _It will all be pointless if you just let him loose! We won't let go, you have to convince him differently._

Sorry Salamander, but if you are going to put this in my hands then you will have to accept the way I deal with it.

"Salamander and Lich would rather not cooperate. Give me a minute, I'll be right back." To my surprise Terrato nods his mouth and I am pardoned. Inside me Salamander and Lich both are screaming obscenities and commands at me but again this is what they get. This is how I'm going to deal with this situation, they should have expected it.

By my surroundings I know that I on the coast of Centra. In my many hours of liberal studying on the anatomy of monsters I came across a very common fish. It spends its entire life on the coasts of Centra; they breed frequently and have extremely short life spans.

Under these conditions their size and eating habits are amazing and unusual; a surprising amount of their food source actually comes from the land; like dolphins they can survive out of the water briefly because they breathe air, but they are carnivorous, they detect their prey by smelling their blood so much of their prey is wounded already. They can survive in deeper water briefly for an easier meal but they presumably live for the thrill of leaping out of the water and eating wounded land mammals. No one is quite sure how they evolved this way but they did indeed evolve from other fish, but they are capable of smelling blood from a great distance even through the water.

I hear Terrato breathing behind me and I can't help but imagine enormous amounts of air pouring into his mouth like water into a lamprey. I wonder if he has been hogging a lot of oxygen in his time on the land, I also wonder how he survives when he is digging if he is this dependent on oxygen. Perhaps he can survive just as well on dirt I don't know. He is a spirit after all; I suppose I should not be delving too deep into theories on how he survives as a tangible thing.

Once I reach the edge I look over into the water to see if I can spot my prey at once but I am not so lucky and that is predictable. We are sure these things live primarily on shorelines but they are seldom seen swimming for some reason. They might all be deep in the water hunting at the same time but that sounds next to impossible since they hunt individually. Perhaps they hide inside the sand and sleep during the day; it could be they are a fish that has evolved not to have a water bladder for some reason. We don't know very much about these animals after all.

It doesn't matter though; they might be sixty miles deep in the water or thirty miles deep in the sand either way they'll still smell a wound as long as it's on shore.

I put my thumb in my mouth, work the flesh between two canines and I bite. I can taste a few drops in my mouth when I put my thumb into the air. If Terrato couldn't smell my sudden blood he would probably be thinking I was testing the wind.

Big droplets fall onto the grass and I wonder briefly if the same blood in two different spots might bring out two of the monsters but it's too late to ponder that now. I see something rippling just beneath the surface about forty feet into the water; I think they were hunting deep after all, without much luck apparently.

Twenty feet away the monster jumps out of the water with all the velocity of cannon shot -it's twenty feet above me now. Its shadow casts over the water and the land about to meet with my feet just as the fish is about to meet with my hand. I see no tail fin which I was half expecting –this monster is something of an organic fishing rod, it leaves its tailfin behind tied around something and a tether like a tendon holding it still in the water from a distance.

Once the thing is just a foot away from me I swipe away my hand and grab it with my other hand by its side. The monster is four feet long and slippery so I have to grab it with my other hand and even then I worry that I'm going to lose it back to the water. I hold it onto the ground, brace it with one of my booted feet and I grab the living tether coming out of its hind end. It is tough like rubber and about an inch thick; even if I had a knife on me I probably wouldn't be able to cut the thing, even if I had my crowbars they would not be very much help either.

The monster struggles beneath my feet just as much but I have a stable hold of it with my foot. Though the monster is struggling the way the tether is caught on the edge of the cliff it's held as still as a tight rope and therefore easy to aim for. I close one eye and hold my casting arm out to the tether aligning it with my middle finger. I have never been much of a caster so I'm glad I can spare a moment to deal with this thing properly. Terrato does not feel too aggravated; I hope this is interesting him 'cause he'll be aggravated soon if it's not.

"Fire."

The middle of the tether explodes and each section of it whips in either direction. I roll away from the fish and this half of the tether cracks at the earth beside the fish and kicks up a line of dust and brittle rock. As soon as the hazard is over I get up and grab the fish by its tether and I start to drag to Terrato. The thing flips and flops behind me, I think it's moving its mouth open and shut but it can't scream and moan. It has no vocal cords the poor thing.

Though he has no face to show it I can feel Terrato's interest. He has no idea how the demon comes out of me so he knows he can't expect anything. Yet I feel like he also knows that I'm not fucking around. I'm at the same spot I was when I requested he wait for me. I sense he is done waiting.

I look up to Terrato; I look straight into the center of his mouth imagining a great eye to connect with. "Here he is." Salamander screams inside my head and I feel like he would be calling me a traitor and burning me from the inside out if I wasn't so important to him –and apparently all Espers.

This is what you get.

I hold the fish above me and snap it in half. The wound is what two disembodied, ragged, Siamese demon vagina's might look like connected at the labia. I open my mouth wide and the blood comes pouring into my mouth and I don't feel any disgust now. It feels just as natural as actual nourishment or sleep or fucking. I can't tell if that is my thinking or the thinking of the demon, and this does not scare me as much as it probably should.

The blood tastes human, but not like a child's; it is a deeper taste than that of the girl I had on my first mission. It is like blood that is putrid but without the rancidity. It feels just like cream running down my tongue and my throat as it fills up a puddle in my stomach. Strangely it tastes not at all like a fish; it is like if fine perfectly marbled beef could become like cream through chiefly magical alchemy.

Once there is so little blood left that it's spattering against the hollow of my mouth I toss the fish at my side and lick my lips. I will not wipe the blood off of my face with my arm because I aim to look messy for Terrato –whose non-gaze feels very different now, as if he has begun to guess what is about to happen. The great wyrm is coiling within itself to spring as a cobra would just before it spits.

Then I feel what used to feel like rumbling inside every fabric of my body, my bones, my muscles, my skin, etc. But now I feel it for what it is which is the demon breaking free of Salamander and Lich's grasp. His struggling becomes too much for them when his hunger breaks beyond their strength to hold him. I feel him come closer to the surface of my body as if the center of my mind were a great distance away from there and once he hits my skin it feels just like that, something wild and alive and magical crashing against the surface of my body from the inside and trying to break out of me as if I were an embryonic sack.

I feel the black veins grow inside my skin again; my eyes grow in an instant and feel like they may bust out of me, my mouth grows into that monstrous grin and the tail bursts out of my spin with no build up or hesitation as if it were just stored inside of me.

Though he has never controlled me this much before I can feel he will not take my mind, and that perhaps he isn't capable of taking that in the first place.

But the transformation doesn't stop there oh no because every time I change I must change more than I did the last time and this is where I stopped on my mission. I feel the lower half of my legs transform in an instant as if they were snapped backwards into a new but perfectly natural place. Something insignificant but bright juts out of my forehead and finally, finally I feel something struggle inside my shoulder blades and I can guess just what will happen next.

First it turns upward inside my body –but without breaking the skin- just like when a ladybug or a roach opens up its back to flap its wings. And two great wings jump out of my back as if they are trying to escape my skin. They stretch and twitch but not of my accord, the demon is doing this. He still can't have my mind, may never have my mind, true, but some of my flesh is his now, only for the time being of course.

I hope.

The wings stretch out like two great webbed hands and before I look at them I can feel that the webbing is really plumage. How this works anatomically I cannot imagine but supernatural spirits are entitled to a certain amount of senseless anatomy I suppose.

Then I feel something I didn't expect, and I'm so happy it's not an act on the demons part. I feel a hand reach up from the center of my mind that could only belong to Lich and she grabs not me, but the demon by the skull. The will of the demon shrinks from the wings like a cold cock in ice water and I know they are in my control now, with the wings comes the knowledge of how to use them.

But only the will of the demon is inside me again, the parts of his body that emerged are still emerged, and his mind is equally loud but he does not command me. I think he does not command me because he can't, he can only take control of me.

Or he can try.

Not of my accord a pulse of the demons amazing rage comes out of me and it hits Terrato like a title wave, he is pushed back from the force of it and I sense he knows what we are dealing with now. I like to think he realizes he'll have to deal with it alone if he doesn't help us.

"This is a fraction of him!" I stand up and display myself as if Terrato can see me somehow with an eye that I cannot see on him. "This is what Salamander and Lich want help with, are you convinced yet?"

Terrato has not recovered from the push and now I do not know if he is gaping his mouth in amazement or if it is simply always open like that. From inside my mind Salamander seems to want to tell me which is right but he is too busy trying to hold back the demon to speak to me. Now that part of it has escaped the way they restrain him is different; it feels like theya'e pulling on a rubber band that has been caught on a bush of bent nails.

The sound I hear makes me imagine that rubber band snapping and the sound it might make if it were a thousand feet thick. Terrato brings me back to reality when he drops to the ground so I can see him when he launches himself at me. I wonder if he is so dense that he thinks it's too late for me already.

_**EG**_

The boy must die; he must die now for he is no boy now. To see what he did to Salamander is proof enough; with eyes like a dead man, black marks like a witch ritual and hatred that wafts from him as smoke. That boy cannot just be human, and he is no noble spirit either.

Terrato is sure Grave is no less a demon than the Griever. It is already happening now; the boy is being taken over physically by the demon so he may not even be moving of his own will anymore. It is best to strike first for he knows the demon will strike, and if the boy knew what he was doing he would probably strike anyway too.

Terrato launches himself mouth first to the demon with every intention of chewing him up until there is nothing left but to either spit or swallow –and he would spit of course, he refuses to put anything this wicked inside his body. The demon moves not -Terrato thinks he is moving too fast for the demon to react.

Then as soon as he should be chomping on the wicked one he stops as if he ran into a mountain with none of his teeth to dig through. At the bottom of his mouth Terrato feels a powerful pinch which to a human would feel precisely like a bite from a rodent. His scream is an inhuman sounding gust of wind shot forth like a beam but neither does this budge the demon at his lip.

Terrato's momentum betrays him next; his entire body keeps moving and bunches up above his head and suddenly his whole body is flailing in the air. He is several feet above his natural environment where he is powerful. In the air he is useless and unbeknownst to him Grave knows this.

So in the air he will stay.

With the limitless strength of the demon Grave swings Terrato behind his head; the sound of the giant body sweeping through the air makes it sound to Grave as if he is inside a typhoon. To Grave it is a combined moment of arrogance and relaxation; to Terrato is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to him.

Even more embarrassing than the things that happened when he was partnered to Salamander.

Grave finishes the swing and brings Terrato to the front of him and he throws the Esper still into the sky. Now he has not even a connection to the earth and he is more helpless than he has ever been before. He has already lost.

Grave launches himself into Terrato with a single beat of the demons wings. He hits the center of Terrato's body with such force that Terrato is pushed even further up into the air and the upper and lower halves of his body slap together. That clap shakes the crust of the soil beneath them and all living things dwelling inside and above fear that the force of the seismic shake will kill them. Every living thing in the radius of Terrato's injurious thunder scatters far away unknown by the spirits the demon and the boy.

Grave flies away from Terrato's body, rolling him into a vertical position and leaving the sensation of rodent's teeth all the way up the upper half of his body back up to the lower portion of his lip. Even through this pain Terrato can think and he hopes that at least the tip of his tail might brush against the grass, if only for the comfort of his natural environment. But when his tail swings it only brushes the wind. Any hope he had of defeating this demon alone was left on the ground where he was lucky to see the demon standing for more than a few seconds. The demon is an aerial spirit; he knew that, he should have considered how it would fight him.

From a distance the conclusion of the fight –beating- depicts very much the image of a fly carrying an earthworm in the air. Terrato's legs are hard to see but if you could move closer to them –without fearing the reverberations of the seismic clap- you would see his thousands of legs wriggling at the sides of his body, they would seem to crawl up him like lesser insects trying to feed on him or to reach the fly suspending him in the air.

Terrato is ashamed of himself and cannot speak but Grave does not understand this. He will not understand until Salamander speaks to him again.

_**EG**_

_Grave he doesn't understand. You have to stop this._

"What does he not understand? I think I've made it pretty clear what we have to deal with don't you?" Because you should Salamander, you should.

_You do not understand Terrato's temperament Grave. Those kinds of details are not recorded in the books you have read. He thinks he is shamed now Grave, he probably thinks he has been fighting the demon himself in fact._

"That's awfully arrogant, and stupid. I guess he's as dense as I was worried he'd be," and then some.

_He is sharper than you give him credit for Grave. He is not dense, he is just quick to assume and very decisive to make up for that. It is true he may think too fast but he never hesitates and that made him a good ally for me and Lich for a long time. He will be a good ally to you too soon if I have my way… You better not have screwed this up for us Grave._

Well, after seeing how only a portion of the demon can handle Terrato so easily I'm not sure if I care whether or not we get him to join us. Though the only certain reason Terrato was beaten this easily is because I thought to keep him in the air, the demon was only thinking of attacking without any kind of tactic –just like Terrato. So I suppose I may not be giving him enough credit.

"Terrato," I yell with my own voice which is a surprise even to me. "This is a portion of the demons power. I think if you will not help suppress him for me then I might as well let him finish you. Salamander and Lich have been doing well enough without you anyway." I am aware that I am playing an awfully dangerous card now but as dangerous as it is it feels like the right thing to me. Like Perfection.

For a long time Terrato says nothing and my arm starts to get really tired; not the arm of the demon though, oh no, the demon never becomes tired or strained. I am granted his power indeed but I have not yet been granted the flesh of his arms. I know that after even more strain the wings feel perfectly fine, healthy and flexible, wide awake.

"You need not speak at all boy, I know already that I must agree. I'm just finding it painful to admit it. I refuse to die in shame like this; you need not suggest that I give in now. Stupid." To watch him and feel him speak before me is to see the very earth open up and speak to me. I realize that I have been demeaning him but I am only trying to provoke him into joining us, I mean no harm to his ego at all.

I wonder now if he really is the mouth of the planet.

_He is._

Although he hasn't yet joined us, and although I know he is not actually coming into my mind yet, I feel something. The feeling of an intimate bond seeps out of Terrato's lip and into my hand. It goes into me like liquid released through a needle. It feels absolutely real to me, not ectoplasmic at all but like thick blood that I could trace flowing under my skin with a finger. I suddenly feel awful for holding onto him so roughly, he has decided to be my ally now, I should let him go.

When I drop him Terrato lands gracefully as I might never have imagined he would. The tip of his tail hits the ground and for a moment he balances that way as steady as any natural pillar that had spent millions of years growing out of the soil. And instead of falling over to one side he shrinks into the shape of a coil until he is resting his body against the ground like a giant patient snake. The earth settles when he is still, and I think I can see frightened animals and other organisms coming back into the area. I had not noticed that all of them had left.

_He has agreed Grave. Descend so he can join us._

My wings cease to flap and I fall back jointed feet first to precisely the same spot as I was when this began. When I hit the ground I feel no pain in the parts of my body where the demon's flesh has come through; but where my own flesh remains I feel the reverberation and I am reminded that I am still mortal.

"Hold still," Terrato says above me. "This may hurt, for I have never joined with a humans mind before, I have always been free."

I look up to the center of his mouth and I can't help it, I must still pretend there is a single eye there. "Thank you," I say loud enough so anybody could hear. I am curious how well he can hear since I don't see any ears or other sound-sensory organs on him either.

Against my will my body juts out; my chest and pelvis and my limbs and head are thrown back, I am held paralyzed in the position two feet above the ground, and before me I see a huge distortion in space like a glass funnel. I have heard of it being this way when the Esper is as large as Terrato.

It is a complete mystery why this happens. When the Esper is small enough to simply merge with the human no funnel appears. This inconsistency has driven many scientists and theorists to giving up, some have given up on their work entirely, and at least one of each has been registered as clinically insane. I myself have decided to not think about it too much because, frankly, I don't think that it matters. This space/time funnel appears only when it needs too, period. I don't think we should let it be anymore complicated than that.

He is cautious which I understand. I'm sure Salamander will be able to transport me back to the Garden wherever it is now so I'm in no hurry and I'm sure Salamander is also not in a hurry for the same reason. Terrato looks rather surprised to see the funnel which is no shock –I'm sure he isn't opposed to this just for the sake of his freedom; for him this is a significant and unfamiliar experience and it may even be on the level of losing a hymen. But I'm sure he knows what to do, he isn't _that_ dense.

I expect after a while for the funnel to disappear and for Terrato to change his mind again, I can almost feel it failing before me: that is when Terrato springs.

Terrato crashes into me and to have a great earthworm become one with your body feels exactly the way you might imagine it would. It feels impossible; my body is as a tunnel for a train to roll through but once that train passes through the portal it appears so small yet I know it has not shrunk, he is far away now, that it is it, my mind is far away from my body. I wonder if it is this way for everybody.

Terrato's body is so long. I'm surprised this doesn't last longer than it does. It felt so much longer yet I know it lasted no longer than a moment. It's as if every inch of his body went inside my mind all at once; as soon as his mouth entered then so did his tail. The funnel vanishes and I hit the ground and roll on my back, I had no idea I was floating while that happened.

As he enters I can feel it happening: Terrato wraps his entire body around the demon and sends both ends of his body to the center of mind which is the pedestal where they have been withholding him. He clings to the center and with the combined effort of the three the demon is pulled away from the surface of my skin. He is propelled all the way back as if he had a bungee cord pulling him from the cliff to the bottom of the valley.

And at once my body is normal again; all of the features of the demon are sucked back inside my body, the bust and crack and shrink like a crumpled piece of paper resting back into its new abnormal shape. But soon the paper is gone totally, the demon is captured again and I don't feel him struggling as much anymore. Terrato has a truly impressive hold on him.

"Fuck." I collapse, and leave it up to Salamander to get me up and send me back where I belong.

_**EG**_

Joselyn wonders if this is how it feels for the father when his child is being born and nobody will let him be there for the big moment when his lover –or non lover, whatever- is passing that living rump roast out of her body. She is pretending she feels exactly like that, though she hopes that Grave is not passing anything out of his body out there. Else, they have failed already.

Joselyn is not pacing like the quintessential ostracized father because she hates pacing. She feels the urge get up and move around of course, she is antsy because the only thing she wants to do she cannot do. She would only trample around her apartment fidgeting with things and getting nothing done and she knows it. Nothing really needs to get done now anyway, and the things that could get done are so unnecessary she would rather do anything she can for Grave right now, even if the only thing she can do is sit on the balcony huddled like a scared animal and wait for him to fly back.

Joselyn realizes that regardless of where she is this is the only thing she would or could do right now. She wishes she could be with him right now even though she could no doubt do nothing more than this. Even if she could help him in battle either he or Salamander might give her some of that manly crap about it being a personal battle.

"Personal battle my ass."

If there is a battle to be won you do everything you can to win for Hyne's sake. Handicapping yourself for the sake of honor or some other similar kind of nonsense is just stupid. History has proven that honor costs more lives than it saves; Grave himself said that to her once and she believes it.

Of course she knows the reason she can't go with him is because Salamander can only merge with Grave and the only thing Salamander could do for her is cause her to vanish into protected nothingness where is would be just as possible to transport her. Otherwise he would incinerate her with his touch. The only option left would be Palidor but he would probably just take her wherever he damn well pleased. He seems to be one of the more erratic of Espers, and defiant to the will of his summoner.

So she is perfectly aware of why she could not go, but because of that she feels like she is entitled to gripe about something and so she is left to make some shit up. All she really wants is for him to come back; true if he had to leave it would only be right if she could go with him too but he should not have had to leave at all.

Ultimecia might strike at them again anytime so says Seifer Almasy, and she thinks he would know -and she doesn't think that's just the arrogance she inherited from that very man talking- so they should be allowed to spend as much time together as possible before that happens, whenever it happens.

Joselyn's brooding is burned up in an instant and replaced by that emotion that can only be described as, 'About fucking time!' when she sees the orange light in the distance swathed in red. Joselyn is sure it has taken them at least two hours but it has really just been forty minutes -forty five if you count the time Grave spent talking to Salamander about it before he left.

Salamander is quick to arrive above the balcony after he is in her sight. He offers no greeting for her, he just stops above the balcony then every bit of him evaporates and Grave falls out of him. Joselyn jumps back and Grave hits the balcony feet first right where she sat waiting for him. An onlooker would think Grave were an intruder and that Joselyn were ready to apprehend him. But really Grave is just recovering from using a taxing power, and Joselyn was reflexively avoiding a falling object just as she was trained to do logically as a soldier.

As soon as Grave opens up his eyes and Joselyn relaxes from her rolling maneuver Joselyn leaps on him with such force that she forces him into a sitting position. Grave is afraid at fist and worried that something has gotten inside of his woman and technically he is right. Grave smiles after he realizes Joselyn was only worried about him and that it is no more serious than that. Joselyn is pushing his hair away and moving his head from one angle to another by his chin and jaw like a mother whose seven year old has just come home from a bar.

As soon as Grave smiles though Joselyn is offended and this time she grabs his chin and makes him face her, big happy smile in place of course "Something funny?" Grave knows that Joselyn is genuinely offended and she knows it, but his smile stays in place regardless and it is already beginning to disarm her. And secretly she is happy for that.

"Ya know what?" Grave asks with innocence which only Joselyn could ever see in his face.

And she does see it and he almost makes her giggle smiling at her like that, tell me."

"You're so damn cute."

Now she does laugh but she still feels the remnants of her worry. This is after all, not the first time he has leaped from a flying vessel just to fight something. No, no that is not really true this time, this time he was apparently going to get help though Joselyn has no doubt there was combat taking place wherever Grave just went.

"You're fine then," Joselyn states but she is indeed questioning him because she needs him to say he's feeling fine.

"Don't worry, I'm all right, I'm better in fact." Joselyn knows he's telling the truth. She is satisfied now… but she looks on him still, he still needs to tell her why he feels yet better.

Grave understands this. "I have Terrato, He's winding himself around the demon right now and I don't think a whole dragons worth of blood could bring him out." Grave smiles yet bigger and spreads out his arms winningly as he finishes explaining for her and something elevates inside her breast and behind her ribcage.

She's so glad he's fine, every time he's in battle without her she worries something that neither of them can imagine will come up and just eat him or something.

She even felt that before they knew there was something inside him that intends to do something similar.

Joselyn's hands are in Graves hair before even she notices. "Tell me everything that just happened," she demands and she kisses his forehead as if it were his penis or his lips. "I need to know just what happened," she kisses again. "You were gone for hours."

Grave has to giggle at that but she takes no offense this time being too occupied by his forehead. "Joselyn I'm sure I wasn't gone for fifteen minutes." She keeps kissing him, she might not even be listening to him at all.

That's fine.

Grave slides his butt forward and allows Joselyn to loom over him kissing his forehead with attention and passion that would not normally go to the forehead. He reaches up to her breasts and kneads them through her bra. She makes a sound with her throat feeling this that has not quite heard from her before -though she has made it many times.

They may make love again on the balcony, or maybe they will just kiss and tease each other until a business responsibility claims their attention again. Ultimecia's spy does not care to stay to find out because after all, it is too late for Grave to be hers now.

**The Island**

On a small land formation near the isle of Centra, a cowboy is becoming more like his father than he ever imagined he would.

When he was a child he reveled in it but as soon as he became a teenager Irvine became acutely annoyed by his father. This was –and perhaps continues to be- a man who was perfectly satisfied by sitting on the porch, drinking beer, and talking constantly about the few exciting things that had ever happened in his life. These exciting moments would not have been so obnoxious to hear about if, in fact, the events had actually happened _to_ him.

On one occasion, the elder Kinneas once witnessed a pair of monsters encountering one another then engaging in a fight to the death –this memory was actually pretty entertaining because it was between a Wendigo and a Geezard and every time he would recall it he would insist that he was rooting for a different one.

Another fine occasion included a lone salesman dragging behind him one hundred tooth brushes tied together by dental floss and no explanation.

Irvine's favorite was his father was sure that he had seen a small flying saucer carrying some heavy mining equipment across the sky -and that's only because of his familiarity with the Pupu alien that he knows his father did not make that one up.

Always he was annoyed by his father because he never seemed to have any personal experiences to talk about. Always it was some exciting thing he had witnessed in front of his own house; never could he talk about something he had participated in. The only action Irvine knew his father had participated in for sure was the act that had conceived him and that was something he didn't want to hear about.

Irvine has lost his sense of time on this land mass. He has no idea how much time he has spent here but he can't forget when he left and how he got here. He had just gotten in another fight with Zell about Netta –Selphie as well, but supremely the argument was about Netta- they were just inches away from bloodying each other when they fucked off in either direction. He was far away from all other life forms in the corridors where his apartment was to be found and then just like when he saw Squall vanish, sparks of golden lightning swirled around him and within seconds he was right here.

He has been stuck on a fucking rock.

If he were to guess –and he has, he has no choice but to evaluate his situation anyway- the rock he has been stuck on is approximately sixty feet from the water. Not only would the impact on the water damage him so much he wouldn't be able to swim to the main body of the continent but he's also surrounded by beds of jagged rocks. Centra is approximately one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet which, all things considered, is not that big of a deal but the climb up the rock wall to the surface of the continent would wear him out to death. He has no supplies but for his wallet and his clothes and no spells or Espers.

So he has just been stuck, stuck on this fucking rock.

In the time he has been here he's been forced to survive on whatever has crawled up the face of the pillar. He's not entirely sure why anything has been crawling up here in the first place, there is nothing up here for a crab and/or other crustaceans –except perhaps sunlight, though Irvine is sure they don't bathe in _that_.

If he's in a mood to mock himself he can say he's getting exactly what Zell decided he deserved.

"You ought to be stranded for this." Zell had shot at him. At the time Irvine thought that he was just being a child attempting adulthood by trying to find something other than death for him to deserve.

"Stranded?" He had questioned at the time not hearing his own arrogance or disdain –on this rock Hyne knows how long later he hears it awfully clearly though.

"Because that's what you've done to me." Irvine scoffed then and turned around but Zell grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down to eye level with one quick adult motion. Irvine can still smell the oil on Zells face; it is even stronger than the smell of salt and crustacean carcasses.

"You're hitting on my woman, so on the one hand I should run you through one of the Whelp's jet engines. On the other hand you're my brother, so I'm not supposed to harm you at all." In that moment Irvine was starting to understand but even in his head he couldn't admit that so he just smiled and gave off his putrid arrogance like radiation. Zell went on. "I'm stuck man, I want to swim to shore, but I know the fall down to the water will kill me. I'm stuck, and you put me there." Zell pushed him away then and stomped away.

Then Irvine swaggered his own way, thinking he was going back to his dorm room.

Then he ended up here.

He managed to console himself after a while 'at least I wasn't teleported seven feet away or I would've just fallen to my death' but that was after quite a while. The first thing Irvine did when he landed here was he laughed. He stood still for something between fifteen minutes and a half hour still stuck in mid-swagger, just standing there in shock for something like twenty minutes, then he laughed the laugh of a crazy person. He remembers it as vividly as his first orgasm; he can accurately imagine what his display would have looked like from another person perspective standing a few feet away from him… just like the memory of his first orgasm.

After he grew back his sanity Irvine realized at once he needed to evaluate his situation and find his means of escape. There were none so step two was to find a way to survive in this trap environment. So far he has been surviving on luck by eating raw every living thing that has come his way so nourishment has not been an issue -as far as those leaping fish are concerned Irvine recognized where he was immediately and used his only available resource: a bottle of Selphie's perfume. No animal will want to eat him if he smells like that god Damnit. When his stomach has been full and he has not had to worry immediately about his survival he would think about Zell, and just now he saw something that made him realize he's become his father if only for the time being.

He was sitting on his shirt and jacket facing land his stomach full and the air fresh with the noxious mixture of hollow crab and -what anthropomorphic anti-heroes from other dimensions might call- 'ape urine.' The sun was just beginning to burn his skin and he ventured to bet if he started cooking then the smell was about to get mighty interesting, and hopefully not very interesting to those leaping fish.

He knew he was becoming his father, if only for the time being, when he saw the giant wyrm rise out of the ground.

Irvine, even after he began junctioning Espers never took enough interest in them to study them. Really the only reason he did it three years ago was because the situation they were in made it necessary. Since then he has managed to avoid them for the most part and has almost managed to be like an unmasked PesticidE in that regard. So when he saw Terrato he didn't identify him as Terrato, in fact he has only guessed that what he saw was an Esper because he can think of no other entity on this planet that could be like that.

It rose from the earth the way a shark's fin emerges from the skin of the rippling water. It literally just _rose_ out of the ground without being interrupted or tugged at by roots or the earth or other creatures.

But then Irvine is not so dense he thinks he saw a 'creature' because what he saw is much closer to being a god and he realizes that.

It rose out of the ground seeming to slouch, seeming to wait and breathe patiently. Irvine has no idea if the thing had eyes because he only ever saw it from a side view but he somehow knew this amazing thing was looking in that direction. He could tell it was waiting and somehow watching for what it was waiting for. He thought this magnificent thing –creature, animal, god, boogeyman, whatever- knew something was coming for it and that it would take this thing head on and face it even in the face of having no face.

It was only after the dust settle did Irvine see that this wyrm –and in turn Irvine himself- was right. A great orange streak swam through the air and floated before the wyrm. Irvine was surprised to hear them speaking English. In fact he was really surprised they were speaking anything at all.

He heard every word in reality but the combination of too much sun, too much seafood, and too much perfume has done something to his mind. The rational part of his mind guessed he was hallucinating this. But it was only a guess because after all, Irvine was not allowed many rations on this little trip.

So, though he saw it all and heard it all Irvine didn't totally understand it all which is the real joke because his father never totally understood the things he saw either.

Not really understanding what they were talking about, Irvine was shocked when the amphibian evaporated and dropped a tiny man onto the ground. When the little man started to talk Irvine was frustrated because he couldn't hear a word he was saying so he couldn't even guess as to what _he_ was witnessing.

What happened next triggered something in Irvine's intoxicated brain which will decide his fate on this rock.

He saw the tiny man go to the peak of the continent and within moments of gesturing which Irvine could not identify from this distance one of those deadly leaping fish came from the water and directly into the arms of the tiny man.

Irvine doesn't know for sure but he thinks the tiny man drank the creature's blood.

Then he saw the tiny man grow wings and fly.

He also saw the tiny man pummel the wyrm and then absorbed it in the same manner a human does when they have conquered an Esper but this didn't interest Irvine, he will never even recall this. He may never recall any of this for that matter.

When the amphibian reappeared and left the area again Irvine made his decision and took action immediately. He stood up genuinely fucked up and nearly falling over again and he picked up his shirt and jacket and he used them to towel himself off. Then he approached the edge of the pillar he stood upon and he looked deep into the water. He saw no fish of any kind, not even any crustaceans to feed on. Seeing no food only encouraged him.

Irvine bites his thumb hard and draws blood, he holds hand out on front of him and he waits, and he watches as if watching could prepare him for the attack he is provoking.

A single fish accepts its invitation at once leaping from the water avoiding Irvine's eye until it is out of the water. The fish is six feet away from him and Irvine doesn't even budge, he doesn't duck and roll as he was planning to a moment ago because he has already forgotten his plan.

Just as the fish is about to devour Irvine's hand a bright golden flash hits them both like an explosion. Moments later there are no life forms in the area but for the microscopic ones feeding on the crustacean carcasses left by Irvine Kinneas.

**Acute Depression**

Terra's finger is in her mouth and she bends it a bit so Fujin will curl her tongue as she licks upwards. Since their first time together Terra has become absolutely fascinated by the tongue –Fujin's above all others of course- and she once thought she had figured out humans by every little molecule. But of course certain parts of the body had to elude her; in her arrogance she has only ever examined the qualities of the mind.

On occasion, certain occasions brought on mostly by her peers and not herself she has examined the body but not so much. The reproductive organs are a must of course even if it is just intellectual examination –which it was- but her knowledge of the human body has only ever been intellectual. Even with the male lovers she has taken before she was not as stunned as she has been by Fujin and it is not because Fujin happens to be half esper like her. Terra knows that it is the human side of Fujin that has fascinated her like this and has taught her all the little things about having a physical body.

The longer you live the more you believe you know, but always you will be surprised, always, no matter how long you live. Even the simplest things that have existed since before even you will elude you no matter how long you live. Even spirits can be ignorant.

Terra likes to think she will learn much of those things now because she has finally encountered somebody to be in love with. And it is said that with such people you learn the secrets of being happy in life. So said her father to her once upon a time, so she will say to any spirit she may produce if indeed she does produce one.

Fujin says, "We will have to go soon."

And Terra doesn't want to go. She has gotten used to feeling happy like this with Fujin because she has never had it with anybody else. She wants the moments of holding her breasts in her hands and molding them between her fingers to last forever, she wants to feel nothing else forever. And how Fujin shivers when she runs her fingers in her nether regions, her inner thighs over her stomach and all around her vagina, how rapidly she gasps for breath when she licks Fujin with the entirety of her tongue.

It is so hard to let go of that even when going back to the world of normalcy where you do what everybody else does. Where you walk and possibly hold hands and do nothing else because you just cannot be as intimate as you want, you cannot do what feels right because others feel they should not see you and you feel that you should not be seen by others. Terra really does not want to leave; she could not stand to leave.

But she must, she must and she must face whatever is coming for her.

"Come," Fujin says this time meaning something completely different from what she usually means when she says that word to her. She is pulling on Terra's hand to get her up and though it is unfair because Fujin is a grown adult, Terra is reminded of children pulling their parents away from where they stand to show them something or so they can get on a ride on the carnival that the parent is unimpressed by.

It is just that, Fujin has made her feel amazing. She has made her feel the ultimate pleasure of being alive and Fujin herself seems to be ignorant of that. She loves her so much but Fujin makes Terra feel so old. Her youth is eternal yet with this young woman so like her in terms of genetic configuration, they both are either immortal or simply long lasting and Terra cannot help but feel old right now. As if she is going to die soon.

She just feels so old, so old that she cannot stand.

All because of Ultimecia, all because of the sorceress who fancies herself a goddess; it is all because of this sorceress who fancies herself to be the deity that is death.

For as long as she has existed Terra has been taught that she was not to fear death. First of all she would not fear death because nobody had no way of knowing if death would take her at all and if so when. Nobody even had an approximate time. The Espers have existed since before any of them can even remember, they do not know if they were ever children or if they had parents or if they came from another planet. And Terra is neither human nor Esper, so who is to know how long she will last?

Terra has had the idea in her head for a long, long time that she would never die and both Fujin and Ultimecia, together, have expunged that feeling in her. Fujin tells her that it shows that she is not happy -despite how pleased she obviously is with what they do- but Terra says nothing because she doesn't fully understand what is wrong, why she feels this way.

Ultimecia it seems is a bringer of death; she is presumably capable of destroying any form of life and Espers are not an exception as a form of life. She has only just discovered Fujin, she has only just felt the ultimate wonder of life and she has become so attached to it in such a short amount of time. She is so afraid of dying in battle before she can actually live a life with Fujin, she is powerful, true, many others on her side are powerful but Ultimecia has something else. Ultimecia seems to have a power that Terra believes she can't fully understand.

The notion of her mind coming undone like yarn and dissolving like powder in the liquid, becoming nothing scares her so much. She is so afraid of Ultimecia that she has forgotten that science has proved that it is impossible to become nothing. She has forgotten the teachings of her tribe -her race for that matter- that there really is no death. That there is no such thing as ending because everything is energy and energy cannot be destroyed, it cannot dissipate like smoke, it cannot vanish like food into the mouth -it is not as if the food vanishes when it goes into the mouth; it continues to exist as it grows through the process of change.

But she is so attached to Fujin now that even change is frightening. She is far too used to feeling this way now and she has not felt this way for very long at all, not long at all. Life is so precious now she realizes, it always has been and she never felt this attached to it before. Life has perhaps become too precious because she cannot stand that someday it will all be over, that somebody can just take it away from her.

Because if somebody can take it, then why could it not simply happen on its own?

Perhaps she will die of natural causes and not in battle after all? Suppose the human part of her is susceptible to something that could kill even an Esper, that only a human could ever contract? And what of Fujin when she is gone in this arbitrary situation? Fujin would most certainly grieve Terra knows that, she knows because she has felt the strong tether that has been tied between them in recent days. If one of them were to die then the grief for the other would be impossible to withstand, if grief can kill then it most certainly would.

Maybe she will die, maybe she will not. Because of being what she is it is really impossible to know, and it is also impossible to know when she will die even if she does. She knows if she would confess all of this to Fujin –or anybody else for that matter- then they would simply tell her this is not the sort of thing to think about now but that's wrong. If she cannot help but think about it then that must mean that she has to think about it. To say one must not think of the things they are thinking of is to say you should hold in your shit when you feel it is about to come out of you.

Or so Fujin might say, if she were to voice such feelings of her own out loud.

She might die soon, she might die in the grand distant future, and she might never die at all. Maybe, maybe not, her own death and the death of Fujin are uncertain.

What is certain right now however is she needs to get up else Fujin will ask her what is wrong. In her heart she knows what she really needs to do is accept it all and allow change to come whatever it is. But it is so hard; it is so hard even at such an age when the child you once were, is wishing it could exist physically again as you do now.

But it will be worth it, she knows that it will be worth it.

"What next Fujin?" Fujin does not notice, she probably will later but right now she doesn't notice how hesitant Terra feels in saying something like that.

"Esthar." She finally gets Terra up and the smile she makes seems to no longer have the value it did yesterday, that one she saw just before they fell asleep just after they made love. "Apparently we can't get the DNA machine that we needed because they're all gone. But we still need supplies anyway."

"All gone?" Terra is glad to have something new to think about though her fears still linger in her brain feeling like something dangerous.

"Squall doubts it's a coincidence."

"And I'm sure you do too."

"Yes," Fujin nods and continues. "He thinks Ultimecia did it in on purpose just to fuck with all of us." Fujin says this as they leave their apartment and a strange thing happens: there are people passing them by as they close the door and leave the apartment, and Fujin continues to talk normally.

This is strange for multiple reasons: Firstly Terra has always been aware of Fujin's deliberate vocal um… strangeness. She has always been careful to, when in public; use that gunshot-like monosyllabic voice. Now she is speaking with deliberate normality, with ease in front of these people and she takes no notice when the people turn around and look at her as if there were something extraordinary shining on her back.

Terra is so caught up in just the same curiosity for so long that she misses at least three paragraphs of dialogue from her lover -and her lover does take notice of that.

"Terra something is wrong." Though the way she speaks is changed her meaning has not –she is still Fujin after all. Anybody else might have phrased it differently like, 'What is wrong Terra?' so as to politely invite her to admitting what is troubling her so that she would speak only if she were ready to speak. Fujin would never do that, Fujin states that there is indeed a problem so Terra wouldn't be able to use the question as a way of avoiding the problem that does indeed exist.

She hates it, but at the same time she is wise enough to know that what Fujin is doing for her is the right thing.

Terra feels so much like she has hit a wall –she has hit no such physical thing- so she feels that she must stop, and when she does Fujin stops with her. She looks up to Fujin noticing that Fujin has made eye contact before she did.

All at once Terra notices that perhaps Fujin is not behind her as she has been thinking and feeling –could it be that she has been thinking falsehoods? And that her gut feeling has been offering her nothing better? - could it be? When she sees the way Fujin is looking at her she thinks for the first time that maybe her lover is actually ahead of her.

So there is relief for this, good.

Terra glances behind her and sees a janitor's corridor, a long tunnel interrupting the wall that leads to a janitor's closet. Fujin may now feel there is no need to privacy for the intimacy of her speech but Terra herself is still not quite over her own version of that sentiment. She brings Fujin into this corridor which they know to be empty and Fujin follows her without resistance because she knows just what Terra needs right now and this time it is not an orgasm.

Otherwise they would be going back to Terra's dorm room, even Fujin's renewed comfort in society has not turned her into an exhibitionist –and Fujin would be the one to become such a thing first between the two of them.

Terra stops them when they are far away enough from the entrance so they are not seen and far away enough from the appliance so they smell nothing rank. When Terra turns around again Fujin is smiling at her with a kind of radiance she never would have thought that Fujin could have when she recalls the first time she saw her. Unfortunately the only thing she can think of upon seeing this is how it may not last forever and that eventually all these things she has come to value will disintegrate.

It feels like she has forgotten so much in such a short time, she did not used to feel this way at all. She has never been so miserable, but then she has never felt so wonderful either as when she is with Fujin.

It comes out of her as involuntarily as her quim ever has with just as much spasming and loss of breath. "Fujin I'm afraid that I will lose everything, that everything I am and value will just come undone and become nothing."

Her next thought is _poor Fujin, my poor lover I have harmed her now and she will be infected with this grief of mine too and she will not be able to help me. I am horrible, the one person who might be able to help me will be at a loss now and she will have no idea what to do for me. I will feel this way forever, I have always felt this way; it is just my imagination that I have ever felt any different. Pleasure is only an illusion the sex we have had has never really happened. I have never tingled and relaxed and leaked pleasure with a wonderful warm body before. And I never will._

Terra is so occupied by her despair that she is no longer looking at Fujin and she cannot see how she reacts. Terra almost falls on her knees and Fujin just moves in and holds her. Fujin is strong and so Terra does not hit the floor, she just hangs in Fujin's arms and she sobs as if she were vomiting. She has no strength in her legs whatsoever and so she will continue to hang but she grabs Fujin around her torso with all her strength, she holds her tight she hooks her hands over Fujin's shoulders and presses her face between Fujin's breasts getting Fujin's jacket soaked with salt and hot water. She clings so hard but she cannot enjoy touching Fujin at all, not at all because the only thing it can make her feel is the dread that she will lose it.

And Fujin only smiles down on her, she smiles a smile that Terra cannot feel through this instant depression she feels.

Since all the might that Terra does not think she even has is keeping her secure to Fujin, Fujin does not really need to hold Terra up. Fujin bends her knees to encourage Terra to relax to the floor with her and so they kneel against each other on the floor. Terra keeps herself pressed against Fujin as hard as she can sobbing so hard that she cannot speak she cannot elaborate on how she feels.

And Fujin only strokes her hair; she only strokes her hair and kisses her head and each bit of motion only makes the feeling of loss worse. The feeling that she is already losing something that is right here with her.

Because if the destiny of all things to dissolve, to become nothing, and if every passing moments amounts to nothing and feels like nothing when we die, why the fuck are we living in the first place?

Her sudden fear of losing everything precious is so strong now that even though her sobs are slowing down she still cannot speak; she cannot stand, dying already. Her nervous system seems to be smoldering like coal just seconds after the wind puts out the flames. Yet with each stroke against her hair and each kiss against her scalp she feels this bruising on her soul so that dying equates to suffering… and then nothing… and nothing more.

Fujin speaks while her lover cannot. "Come love, we'll tell them that you're having pre-traumatic stress disorder or something. If I say that we can't show up then they will understand and the information will be relayed to us later." She strokes Terra's hair and refuses to flinch when he lover whimpers from her touch. "Do you need to rest?"

Terra's only movements now are her involuntary ones, her sobs and twitches and tears soaking Fujin's shirt but otherwise she is motionless. For the first time during this depression –and she is vividly aware that this is what she is experiencing- she is realizing that she does not really know what she needs. And somehow the lead she felt squeezing through the arteries in her brain seem to be lifted out of her, at least a little bit, at least for now.

She does not nod; she does not shake her head. And finally despite her sobbing Terra can speak if a bit unclearly. "I don't know Fujin, I just don't know what I need. This has never happened to me before."

"Come love, we're going to rest, you obviously can't function right now, come, come." Fujin gets up holding Terra by the arms and she finds the strength in her legs to stand despite what her brain was telling her. Perhaps Fujin is right: maybe she just cannot function right now, and not just physically if she is thinking this way then maybe she just isn't functioning properly at all.

"Come love, come with me back home." They leave the janitorial corridor and head back to Terra's dorm, her home for now. As they go back to the room Terra treats others much the same way Fujin was earlier and is continuing to do with her speech. Terra does not care that other people are staring at them, she cares even less if they talk to each other about them or mock her for her misery.

Before they actually go back into the room some of her rationality comes back to her and her natural power comes back as well. A student passing by unable to look away has her eyes on Terra and unlike with everyone since she began to feel this way Terra can feel again she is thinking about her, she can feel what the other girl is feeling.

And she is so amazed to feel that it is empathy, and just before the door shuts behind her Terra looks back at the girl and looks her in the eyes. And she feels all of the sudden that she is not ending now, and that she is certainly not the only person who feels like this. She sees this girl who feels the same way is indeed still alive and vibrant, and so is she.

**Esthar**

Meanwhile the others have just received word that Fujin and Terra cannot come to be greeted by the Estharians. Terra is suffering from sudden mental stress and Fujin is needed to reassure her. Quistis was the first one to voice that this was perfectly acceptable and they could simply catch the two of them up as soon as they were capable of operating again. Squall spent fifteen minutes putting together a pardon for the two of them which was recognized at once… since he is the only person who really needs to recognize it.

Squall told her he felt rather silly being to one to write the pardon but Quistis shot back at him that this was the easiest way to deal with it, and that everything was far too complicated right now as it is. Even Rinoa had to smile when Squall was forced to agree to this monosyllabic.

Having so efficiently cheated with the pardon –which really only Xu would have cared about- the remainder of the heroes plus Seifer, Raijin, Grave, Joselyn and Cody left B-Garden upon docking in Esthar. It might have seemed odd that Cody was involved as well but his reasons for leaving were to visit his father in Esthars airship district. Any student leaving had to have business in Esthar so no other students were allowed to be taken. The reason for Grave and Joselyn joining them was not to be disclosed.

Quistis was troubled –no, not really, really she was angry- because of Grave. Just before docking, without even making eye contact with her he made a report admitting that he had acquired a new Esper on the ride to Esthar. He would not dispose where the Esper came from or how he acquired it. He would only tell her that his name is Terrato.

And Quistis was not lost on what that meant. She was all too aware now that Grave was harboring a famous trio. What Quistis was really angry about not knowing was how he obtained the Esper; after all if there was an Esper just running loose in the Garden someone would have noticed by now!

He must have found a way off of Garden without using a Whelp because if one were stolen –or borrowed… whatever- she would have been one of the authorities alerted. She could think of only one way that Grave could have left the academy, and it seems hard to believe to her –no, no it's downright stupid- that nobody would have noticed a giant blazing amphibian flying away from Garden.

But it is possible; she has to admit that at least, it is indeed possible.

Quistis regrets she will not be able to discuss this with him for a while. It has been decided they will each separate in pairs; Squall with Rinoa, Quistis and Seifer, Grave with Joselyn, Selphie with Raijin and Cody was to go alone to visit his father.

Squall and Rinoa were to go to the presidential palace to arrange to receive the supplies and to discuss personal matters with Kiros and Ward. The other six were to engage in one of Balamb Gardens most desperate –and pathetic- acts of desperation: They are to look for Zell and Irvine.

Because it is so unlikely they are to find either man anywhere, they have to use this visit to Esthar as an excuse to look for them. It was discussed with Terra at an earlier time that, theoretically, they might be more likely to be teleported to a place that is significant to them. She developed this theory discussing with Squall all the places where he was teleported to and the only thing that those places had in common was that they were significant places for him, all of them.

First was Winhil, the place of his birth. The second was the orphanage, the place where he spent his childhood. Because of the events three years ago Esthar became an extremely significant place to all of them, as far as they know their friends are not at the orphanage so Esthar strikes them as the second most likely place for them to end up. It is a long shot and nothing better than a guess it is true, but they need hope and this is all they have.

Quistis can tell already that Grave and Joselyn will probably just sight see while they are here. Although Seifer has only ever seen Zell as a target for mockery and Irvine as too boring too mock he will only be a help because of his devotion to her. Even though he is not terribly close to Irvine Raijin is close enough to Zell that he would care to find him somewhere and Selphie will prove perfect if Irvine is spotted anywhere. But Joselyn and Grave share equal distaste for both of the missing men. So Quistis unfairly thinks that even if one of the two were to pass them by they would take no notice of them out of principal.

Quistis shakes her head and squints her eyes as if she had just swallowed raw vitamin C and nobody but Seifer notices -Quistis does not notice his noticing. Back inside her skull Quistis is unsure of herself, she realizes it is true that these thoughts articulate her feelings but she notices there is something irrational about them. Grave and Joselyn being irresponsible on a mission?

What on Gaia is she thinking this for?

Because this is a mission and they have made that very clear to them. Because of the status that fate or perhaps Hyne has granted to Grave –and therefore Joselyn as well- they have been set out the level of the heroes so it is only natural that they should go on missions –or errands, Quistis frankly thinks that even trying to look for her brothers based on Terra's theory is stupid- with them. They understand that and she knows, Quistis herself explained it all to them just before leaving and she saw the respect from Grave and the arrogance from Joselyn. It is quite clear to them and no matter what she has ever thought about either of them she must be becoming irrational if she is thinking of them as irresponsible.

Just as Quistis's face is assuming its natural position and Seifer comes to the decision to interrogate her about the face she made, the group meets the intersection where they are to separate. The group stops and Squall steps forward to face everybody.

"This is where we separate; Rinoa and I are expecting to be at the presidential palace for about three hours. The rest of you have that long to investigate your designated areas and report back here. In the event that you have any luck," as he says this everybody except for Raijin and Selphie insert 'unlikely' before 'event.' "Each of you has been equipped with a hand radio and you will report to Rinoa and me immediately. Specify if you are staying in one place or on the move and if you are moving specify where you are going. Understood?" Everybody replies with a salute although the salutes from Seifer and Joselyn are clearly begrudging being slow and jerky.

"Good." Squall gestures to Rinoa with his head the path for the presidential palace and she follows him at once. The rest of the group hesitates to leave at first watching the couple leave, each one of them differently compelled by the fact that they are holding hands as they depart.

_**EG**_

The rest of the group departs without furthering the formalities and Seifer is happy for that because he has none left. Now he is concerned about Quistis and the face that she just made. So he needs for them to be away from these people no matter how important they are because this may not be any business for them. In fact he is sure that it is not because if it were Quistis probably would have signaled something to Selphie, one of those strange woman signals that suggest a discussion as well as the place and time without the use of words, then a reply given in the same manner.

Quistis would probably laugh at him if he suggested something like that to her, then perhaps he should say it to cheer her up?

No, if he suggested he actually knew something about women then she would probably brain him with something and go looking for their vanished comrades alone. Assuming they are really anywhere to be found here.

Seifer personally thinks this is hardly different from masturbation. If Zell or Irvine is indeed waiting to be found anywhere then they would have lost a ton of their brain cells during their teleportation if that is indeed what happened to them. If they still have any brains then they are trying to find a way out of wherever they are like the mercenaries they are. They may need help, true, but nobody knows if they do or where they are. We believe they are lost and so we are lost.

Seifer only thinks for a couple of seconds whether or not he should bring this up before he stops thinking and just does it. "You realize that we're just-"

"Masturbating I know." Seifer makes a face that Quistis normally would have laughed at but she isn't looking at him now, she goes on, "but masturbating helps, I'm sure you know that."

It is not until Quistis blows away all of his pessimism with that comment that he realizes he is being pessimistic to begin with. He was wrong to think that Quistis needed to be straightened out… it's hard to admit even inside his own skull but, apparently he needed to be straightened out.

But he was right in thinking that she needs something and that he should give it to her.

Seifer catches up to Quistis, he takes one hand out of one pocket and grabs her hand in his. When she looks up she is puzzled by this particular gesture of affection which he expected but she also looks almost offended by it as well. They pass through an intersection that leads downward like a slide.

"Something wrong?" He asks smiling a smile that does not look like his own, and she almost smiles back, almost.

But then they hear the scream: It begins as a distant sound that they notice but cannot bring themselves to be worried about, but it steadily escalates like liquid rising into a vessel. The scream is coming from behind them on the intersection that they just passed through and it becomes louder and louder as the screamer gets closer and closer. The scream is loudest once it is directly behind them and it dies down just as steadily as it slides down. It all happens so fast they don't even think to look behind them because what is the point? They know who they heard.

Seifer and Quistis look to each other the way they might have after their first orgasms together if they could have in fact looked at each other then.

"Well," Seifer says, "at least we aren't just masturbating anymore."

_I think you should all know that the chapter Acute Depression is the only part of this fic' that I hate. I wanted to just cut it out but it felt necessary somehow. It was worth writing… I guess… but I regret ever feeling that pathetic myself. Disappointing._

_Ciao._


	18. Lost Under Falling Sky

_Disclaimer & A/N: I don't own the things that I don't own, you can point them out yourselves I'm sure. I also disclaim the shame of taking so fucking long to finish this story. I thank you for your patience my readers if I have any of you left. This is the final installment of The Garden of Stone. I love this story and the characters I invented so I want it to get all the attention it deserves, but I just need to finish this monster you know? Please enjoy, and review. No more fanfiction incidentally, it's all original work from now on unless intuition tells me I have some more fanfiction to do. That's doubtful._

_Shadow face, blowing smoke and talking wind._

_Lost my dream, fell too far to start again, start again._

_A sudden snake, found my shape and turned around._

_Remember these, remember things are just a black, a burning sun._

_And I hope it's a sweet ride._

_Sleep tight for me, sleep tight for me, I'm gone._

_Warm and sweet, swinging from the window's ledge._

_Tight and deep, one last sin before I'm dead._

_A sucking holy wind, will take me from this bed tonight._

_And bloody wits, another hits me and I have to say goodbye._

_Sleep tight for me, sleep tight for me, I'm gone._

_And I hope it's a sweet ride, here for me tonight._

'_Cause I feel I'm going, feel I'm slowing down._

_Tighter and Tighter by Soundgarden_

**Part Eighteen: Lost Under Falling Sky**

**Sliding Through the Streets of Esthar**

Seifer has gone through a lot of strange things in his first twenty one years alive in this body. He has expected, in fact, a number of the experiences he has gone through so far. His fears have been in his face from the beginning of the time he has spent being conscious. Death has been in his face from the time of his childhood which is probably why he felt so obligated to stay in the academy despite his hatred for the behavior of the authority figures.

Seifer expected he would be frightened of death as he dealt it out when he began his career as a soldier. He expected he would overcome that fear and become an authority figure in the Garden. He expected –despite his best secret efforts to minimize the ego he denies to have- that he and Quistis would have sex before his mask came off. Seifer has expected the most unpredictable events and changes he has gone through.

He never expected this though: He never expected to discover Zell Dintch sliding through the streets of Esthar on his socks.

Quistis didn't react to his sexual quip. She flipped open her cell phone and made the report to Squall at once, their location, and the sector where Zell was going and that fact that it was Zell who they had discovered. Then she ran, it has been fifteen minutes since they started running and Seifer hasn't yet caught up with her.

And now as a man, he is ashamed because he can't catch up with a running woman in heels while he is wearing combat boots.

Briefly, Seifer wishes Quistis's whip were undone right now, he could just grab onto it and trail behind her like man clinging to the leash of a giant dog outrunning him. He might sustain more injuries, true, but at least he would catch up with at least one of his comrades. And he would save more of his energy!

He briefly considers taking off his combat boots and attempting Zell's method of travel but doubts it would work for him. If anything his history of villainy would probably make him heavier than Zell, so he would just be pressed against this smooth road, unable to slide on it if he were oiled.

Seifer really wishes this road were a spiral so he could just leap off of the side of the road and land on a lower level of the coil. It would be rash; Quistis would probably tell him he would miss the roads and just keep falling down the tunnel of the spiral until he would hit the bottom.

Or he expects she would say that anyway.

But it would be so much better than this. It would be so much better than running down a smooth road chasing her and Zell and not coming even close to either of them. He would gladly take yet another risk at his life to catch Zell. He has been doing his job that way for two and a half years after all right? Why on Gaia should he stop behaving that way just because his rank is different? Should he stop just because they know who he is now?

"Fuck no, this is how I operate."

Seifer finds that he was not awoken to reality until he spoke out loud to himself. And he finds that he is catching up to Quistis. She has not slowed down.

Seifer doesn't look forward to see how far away Zell is now, he just looks to Quistis, he follows Quistis. All of the sudden seeing how far ahead of him she is: Seifer questions for the first time if acting rashly is the right way to catch Zell.

Seifer follows Quistis, and he finds that the more he trusts her the more he catches up to her.

_**EG**_

"_Trepe and Almasy report that Zell Dintch has been spotted traveling uncontrollably at breakneck speed from sector B down to sector F. All units are instructed to travel to sector F as quickly as you can until further notice. We are on standby for reports from Trepe and Almasy._"

Being less touched by the discovery of Zell Dintch, Grave and Joselyn wait until that message is over before they get moving -though they move as swiftly as their comrades are. They find the road leading to sector F at once and they run as fast as they can but they doubt they'll catch up to anybody where they are coming from. Joselyn expects they'll receive another report before they're even off this long ramp.

"I'm pretty sure we'll need transportation if we're going to catch up." Grave shouts and he shouts nothing more after he sees Joselyn nod in his peripheral vision.

"What do you suggest? I trust you know about the anatomy of Esthar too!" She sounds like she is joking but Grave can tell that she means it because she seems expectant for an answer.

"Actually I don't." He can tell that she is disappointed but he quickly forgets it and so does she. "I've never read up on city layouts before, not even Esthar."

"Didn't we learn about Esthar in Public Relations classes?" Joselyn protests to him and he feels cornered for a moment hearing that.

"We did." He confirms redundantly on the verge of arguing with her. "But nobody ever said anything about the layout to us. I don't remember any instructions about how to get around!"

Joselyn is about to say something to him for being so sharp with her but she stops herself. She knows if she pushes him more then he'll get too exasperated and then they would be in trouble. Part of her worries that she is about to stroke his ego -but then again she does that all the time anyway so what is it going to hurt stroking it right now?

"What do you remember?" She asks helpfully and she can sense him softening, and then thinking genuinely about what could help them right now. Neither soldier slows down their pace as he thinks.

The ramp they are running down is narrowing slippery and has no rails so Joselyn is forced to focus ahead of her. But occasionally she affords glances to her lover and she sees that he really is thinking, as he runs he is tunneling in his brain for valuable information that he did receive from learning about Esthar.

Because she knows already that she remembers just about nothing from that class.

Joselyn looks back to the road; she expects they'll receive a new report shortly to say they need to go a different way as soon as possible.

"Seat taxis," he says and he elaborates not.

"What?" She shouts.

"In the areas of Esthar where the populace spends time during the day there are seat taxis. They are circular cushioned chairs that travel through tubes throughout the city. We saw one at the entrance."

Joselyn remembers the device instantly and she smiles for Grave for his cleverness and for herself for bringing it out of him.

"I think that sector F is going to bustle just like the upper levels so we should encounter one as soon as we get down there."

"I hope so," Joselyn shouts for they have not gone down the ramp far enough to vividly see sector F. She can recognize the tubes the taxis travel in from this distance but she cannot see if there are any stations. This ramp was much longer than she anticipated…

The radio makes a sound that is horrible and remarkable before the words come through and the pair misses the first part of the transmission. "_zzzzzzzkakkshhhhhhhhh sector G and gaining. Quistis and Seifer report the ramp Zell is… traveling down is slanting up. Your goal whether you choose to accept it or not is to catch Zell before he reaches the bowels of Esthar. At the speed which he is moving a collision with any hard surface might prove fatal. Move…_"

Joselyn almost laughs but she can't quite remember the name of the movie that their Headmaster just made fun of. She sees that they are coming closer to sector F but she still doesn't see anything like the taxis that Grave described. She may have to trust him to just find one.

"Contact Trepe and Almasy," Joselyn demands and Grave pulls the radio out of his pocket before she tells him why he needs to contact them. "Find out which sector they expect him to land in after G. I doubt if this is all one great big slide that is labeled in alphabetical order." Grave nods and moves the dial to Quistis's transmission and to Joselyn's delight and relief he speaks gibberish for a few seconds before the static clears up and he can actually be heard.

"So the other day I was having trouble deciding if I think that Root Beer is better than Cream Soda. I've always been zealously on the side of cream soda but every once in a while I just have to have a root beer and it tastes a little better whenever I have one you know?" The static ensues and Grave segues into seriousness as easily as if he were to go on to say he had ultimately decided to just mix the two –which he has in reality done recently, Joselyn gags even now thinking about it.

"Quistis, Joselyn and I are going to hitch a ride on one of those seat taxis and we need to know where he's going after he passes through sector G. Over." The static bursts out of the radio and for a second the couple thinks that it will detonate in Graves hand in a second. Quistis replies after another spray of static.

"_The way he's going we think that he'll end up in sector J next, after that we can't make an accurate guess. Over._"

"Thanks, we're headed to sector J then, over." Grave puts the radio away clearly not caring if they receive another transmission suggesting they take a different course of action. That is probably the best course of action that any of the four groups can take right now and Quistis knows it. She will in all likelihood report their course of action to Squall but Joselyn expects that nobody will protest to them for doing this.

Ten minutes after Grave has made the transmission to Quistis they land on sector F, but neither of them spots a seat taxi in the vicinity at once.

_**EG**_

In the clouds above Esthar a tiny black dot appears like ink fallen on a piece of paper and soaking through to the other side. It is so small nobody could spot it just with their eyes, and the meteorologists do not pay such close attention to the clouds that they would detect the intruder. It is the face of one of Ultimecia's soldiers and it looks down with vision that could turn green an eagle.

Since Balamb Garden has docked already it is technically time for her to attack but she has become interested in this new development. They have finally found one of the two men who went missing recently on the night of the murder. And now they are obligated to catch the poor young thing that seems so foolish he cannot even control his own socks! She has decided that it would be best at this point to allow them to catch him before launching the attack, allow them to recover a comrade and a brother just to give them hope.

The face sinks back into the clouds and goes unnoticed by all of her victims below.

_**EG**_

Quistis is only vaguely aware that Seifer has caught up with her because Zell only moves farther and farther away from them. He is only barely in sight now so she can keep track of him but she has totally lost the hope of catching up to him herself. She will be able to make reports to the others for another couple of minute's maybe but she will not be able to catch up to him on foot.

"Damnit Zell only you could fall into a situation like this!" Quistis shouts to Zell but she cannot tell if he hears her or not.

"Why are we chasing him anyway, can't we just let the guy stop and find us? He'd know to go to the presidential palace anyway!" At first Quistis thinks that she should not respond to that but Seifer is not being sarcastic right now.

She doesn't find it amusing right now that, three years ago she would not have been able to tell.

"Because the thing that stops him might kill him that's why!" For a moment she thinks that Seifer was expecting that answer out of her and was setting herself up for some of his sarcasm. But he proves her wrong before she can actually snap at him.

"Are we sure about that?" She wants to cut him off but he does not let her. "You know the layout of Esthar as well as I do Quistis so you should know that there is no road or walkway in Esthar that leads directly into a wall. Did you have anything in mind that might kill him?"

"Yes," She yells back, "I'm worried that he might slide off of the road and fall into the abyss below the city!" Quistis looks back to Zell and her heart jumps because she does not see him at once. And when she does see him her heart is no better because he is yet farther away, she cannot even see the point of blonde hair from this distance.

Without showing any sign of defeat in his voice Seifer picks up the radio from Quistis's belt and announces to all units. "All units, Zell Dintch has just traveled down to sector H I repeat target is traveling down sector H over."

_**EG**_

"Fuck!" Grave and Joselyn shout simultaneously just as the seat taxi takes off.

Outraged as they are the acoustics in the tube they are traveling down are surprisingly resonant and they can hear their shared expletive traveling down the tube with them and multiplying like a special effect in a dance track.

It was far away and it seemed out of the way to where Zell was going but they found a seat taxi and they leapt inside so fast they did not even notice the young family trying to get on ahead of them –they didn't notice those people even as the taxi took off actually. They thought for a moment that they might be the ones to catch Zell. They even felt a little bit proud as they pressed the button for sector G and sat down on the cushions which are far less comfortable than they look.

And just as they took off Seifer's transmission came through and their taxi took off at half the speed of their 'Fuck!'

As they are traveling down the tube they hear the sound of laughter coming out of the radio and Grave realizes that he forgot to turn it back off after the transmission he made earlier.

"_SeeD's Grave and Abgestossen could you please repeat that transmission._" The static is overpowering but they can tell that this is the voice of Seifer again. And as their frustration seems to lack his mirth they think it makes sense to repeat their transmission.

Grave lifts the radio up between his and Joselyn's mouth, "Fuck!" They shout again "Over," they finish together and Grave turns off the radio. He can't help but smile and neither can she.

Joselyn imagines that Quistis is going to scold Seifer very soon for behaving so childishly in this situation but she knows what he did. He noticed that they became frustrated in the heat of a chase; and being a professional he knew they needed to be brought back to reality. The lovers cannot help but smile and before they expect it to the taxi halts and Grave hits the H button before the door even opens.

_**EG**_

"Selphie I found it ya' know!" Raijin is jumping up and down and flapping his arms beside the seat taxi of sector A. Selphie's head can be seen distinctly from the distance away because her hair bounces and catches the eye amongst all the citizens of Esthar who hide their hair with hoods. Raijin does not stop his display until he sees that Selphie is prancing his way.

Selphie had gotten the bright idea to use the seat taxis the instant they got the signal that Zell was in the area. Of course there was not one in sight and they have not found the thing until after ten minutes of searching. Raijin finds it funny that as compared to a city like Deling where the taxis are abundant and constantly in motion; the stationary taxis in Esthar are just as hard to get a hold of.

Raijin opens the door and hops in before Selphie even gets there but he waits and touches nothing until she is inside. Once she is with him she touches the H button without a further word and they are launched downward as soon as the door is shut.

Raijin is not sure so he does not mention it, but he thinks that he hears something creak beneath his seat. Beside him Selphie has heard nothing; she is humming and lolling her head around as if she were riding a train.

_**EG**_

The radio buzzes in Grave's hand as he switches it on, "Dintch is in our sights, over." He switches it off and there is no reply.

Joselyn actually laughs when Zell is in their sights because they did not tell her or Grave Zell's means of travel. Joselyn is laughing openly and giving all of her attention to Zell both as a target to capture and as point of entertainment.

Trusting Joselyn Grave pays no attention to Zell at all and he watches the device they are traveling in. He thought that he heard something clicking beneath his seat a moment ago but he said nothing about it. It was a very soft sound so he barely heard it himself so he decided it was not worth mentioning it under the circumstances. But something clicked in the back of his head as well so he has kept his mind on it.

"Only that goofball could fall into a situation like this," Joselyn says and Grave laughs for her but he is too focused on the situation to really find that funny, though he knows that he would find it funny. Joselyn senses this and smiles despite it.

Based on how fast the seat taxi is moving Joselyn would guess that Zell is only moving one third times slower than they are. It is no wonder then that Quistis and Seifer could not catch up to him.

In her natural arrogance; just for a second Joselyn thinks 'But I certainly can' because of Palidor's affect on her bodies natural speed. Reality hits her soon though and she realizes that moving at such a speed would be too dangerous and that she would probably run herself off of the road.

But part of her mind urges her to do it anyway. As far as she is concerned that is the only method this unit has that can catch their target. She will have to ask Grave about this…

"Grave," she begins.

"Joselyn!" Grave shouts and rather than panic and look into Grave's face for the source of trouble she panics and looks in the direction that he shouts.

In another seat taxi across the tube from them is Raijin and Selphie and behind them is an absolute nimbus of sparks. The taxi itself looks like a top having fallen on one side and the pair riding it is clinging to it for their lives.

Then Joselyn sees that they have passed the stop and that they are not stopping they are heading right towards each other.

They feel something click beneath them and it is louder than the sound that Grave heard earlier but in this moment they think that it is the least of their worries.

Graves hand is on her knee in an instant but the last thing that she wants is reassurance. What she wants is actual help a way out an escape.

Then she feels magic shot into her as if with five needles and she knows just what it is before it even activates in her. As soon as the aura has activated and she is bright yellow and her eyes are yet greener than they usually are she knows just what to do. She knows exactly what Grave wants her to do and she thinks that if he were not in here with him she could not have thought of it on her own. If she survives she may be embarrassed having thought this.

As she was trained to do, in a matter of seconds she measure the two speeds at which the taxis are moving, she measure the distance between, and then she focuses on the part of the tube just in front of where they would collide.

Joselyn whips her casting arm in front of her and her sleeve cracks like a wet garbage bag.

"Melt," she says without hearing her own voice or realizing that her voice is indeed her own.

Spells takes place in stages usually no more than three. The first stage for Firaga is a strong concentration of magic heat. Joselyn begins to cast the spell but as soon as it starts concentrating heat into the glass right in front of their mutual destinations she halts not the spell itself: but the progress of the spell.

It begins so slowly that all four heroes fear they'll simply collide next to a gathering of energy for an explosion. But the glass melts just like a thin sheet of wax as soon as the spell takes effect and the millions of needles of heat focus into that one spot. It melts in the shape of an expanding circle and drips into the nothingness below them; they don't know if there is a road where the glass is dripping nor if there are people in danger of the hot falling substance. Normally, three of the four of them would care about any of that.

The spell dissipates as soon as the taxis are ten feet apart and there is a huge hole in the tube before them. The four heroes leap off of the taxis which collide before they touch road to safety and the impact shocks each of their bodies.

They hit the road like corpses and shards of mechanism and marble and glass hit them as shrapnel. Zell slides by them at slightly less than half the speed of sound and only barely recognizing the four people who almost died right in front of him.

The four heroes are motionless. And bit by bit, chunk by chunk the glass tube behind them falls into the nothingness below. The radio at Grave's side hisses and buzzes and it is not for many minutes that a voice can actually get through. Grave does not stir; the other three do not stir.

**The Falling of the Sky**

Zell's velocity is in rivalry with the speed of a bullet. The roads of Esthar he has discovered slant more and more the lower you go and thus he has been sliding faster and faster with each sector he has passed through. His speed has become amazing so that he is torn between two emotions after passing that explosion: after seeing that and Quistis

–As well as some huge guy in a red coat who he didn't get a good look at- and what he just saw now he is thrilled that his family is trying to save him –and he is surprised that they happen to be where he just ended up.

But the only remaining bit of rationality in him argues that it's stupid of them to try and catch up with them because for Hyne's sake even _he_ doesn't know where he's going!

Now he's sliding into the intestines of Esthar, below society. The bright blue streets are like solidified pillars of ocean-water within walls of limitless blackness. Above him the city is a bright light, just like looking at the sun through the surface of the water. He is too frantic to appreciate any of it but this place is indeed beautiful.

The rational part of his brain is thanking his lucky stars that all mechanics at Garden are equipped with special clothes that can handle more abuse than even a soldier needs to absorb. His socks are made of a durable material that doesn't disintegrate with friction -hence how he can slide through Esthar at such high speeds on his socks without being worn down to the knees.

Zell guards his eyes with his arm and squints against the wind. The air pressure stings his eyes, clouds his vision with tears so he hasn't been able to see where he's been going. If he survives, he will swear it was just by the grace of Hyne that didn't fall off the roads and into that limitless blackness below.

Zell has never read up on what dwells below Esthar, so to him it is indeed bottomless down there.

Through the rapid stream of water coming out of his eyes Zell sees the end of his road ahead of him. Ahead of him the slope evens out them, then…

Then it just stops.

"Wall!" Zell shouts, he shouts to no one and nothing. He shouts this word because in that moment he is beyond 'No!' "FUCKING WALL!"

The flat space ahead of the slope is not twenty feet long because at the end of it is what looks to Zell to be a wall. It is not, it is a pinnacle made of the same transparent marble as the rest of the city. But it is really a monument, it is perhaps a temple or a magnificent elevator covered with archaic and beautiful markings. It is not really a wall, not really, but Zell can think of no other word in this moment so for one moment it gets to be a wall.

Zell cannot watch himself come closer to death. He covers his eyes and the crook of his elbow splashes with two kinds of tears.

Then, through the cracks between his arm and his head Zell sees bright color that he knows is no reflection of anything around him. He knows there was nothing golden around him moments ago, there is nothing golden down in this place at all.

For an instant Zell thinks he's dead when he hits something but he doesn't hit the solid marble he saw before him, he hits something very wet and… smelly.

Zell tumbles over the floor smeared with a kind of wetness that no nightmare of his could ever conjure. He is winded and exhausted but eventually he can stand up he can opens his eyes and hold his nose shut.

When he does Zell is amazed but not necessarily happy by what he sees.

Okay, maybe he's a little bit happy.

Three feet away is Irvine Kinneas wearing nothing but his pants and an aura of stench that might be able to kill Ultimecia herself. His hair is many brown tangles and strings and for the first time ever Zell is clearly seeing his brother's hairline. He is not entirely sure what is holding the mans pants up, but he can guess… and he feels like puking when he does guess.

"Zell?" Irvine says but Zell can't hear him well. Irvine is wheezing like a sick person. He probably is sick actually.

"Irvine," Zell on the other hand sounds completely healthy for he has not been stuck in the middle of nowhere for the past few weeks. His memory provides nothing in fact, as far as he knows he hasn't been anywhere until he started sliding.

A little part of Zell's brain ignoring Irvine then wonders in shining outrage, 'Where the hell are my shoes?'

"Zell!" Irvine shouts and Zell wakes up at this attention.

"What do you want?" Zell shouts as if Irvine were in no position to be outraged.

"What should we do?" He sounds so pathetic and just for a second Zell can see that.

And in that second he can recognize it intimately. He should have compassion for his brother right now but he can feel none. He really sees Irvine again and it makes him feel like Irvine –or at least the closest feeling that his brain can conjure for him that resembles what Irvine is feeling. He would have a snide remark or a mean shout for Irvine right now but just looking at the man is enough to make him feel crippled and, well, smelly.

"We," Zell begins, "…we wait. They were chasing after me a minute ago, I'm sure somebody will be here soon."

For a second Zell can't tell if Irvine is perplexed or if the smell he is producing is causing him to hallucinate. Then Irvine proves that he is perplexed.

"Why were you running?" Irvine asks.

_**EG**_

After neither group responds to him Squall decides that he will trace them to their approximate location and he orders Selphie and Raijin to follow suite.

The clouds above –where their attention has not been for hours- are turning spotted black and appear to be growing mold. The sky is looking dirtier with fungus by the minute until the clouds are so black that it is obviously not a storm. The citizens of Esthar smell dry death in the air just like decomposing food before they look up and find that very thing in their sky. Not a hero or pseudo hero is above ground now and they are not even aware of the smell.

Soon the sky is so black that the clouds cannot carry the weight of it any longer and the blackness falls from the sky and seems to come apart like collapsing moss. But when this stenchful blackness hits the ground it does not smack against the surface, it lands gracefully like dancers recovering from the jump, they seem to be standing on toes but these life forms –if you can call them that- have not definite shape that the citizens can make out. They just look like things of unknown limbs balancing on bits of putrid fungus.

Across the city the citizens look around them at the countless black figures landing on roads and buildings traveling tubes and statues all over the city. Those who do not faint from the smell look around them and realize that the entire city is outnumbered. Even if their soldiers and every single member of Balamb Garden filed into the city the difference in numbers would be disgusting. No one takes notice that the sky is white again. From the clouds Ultimecia looks from a single soldier that has not descended and notices the city looks as though it has been covered completely by used coffee grounds.

Nobody in the lower levels noticed the event in the city above, the heroes nor the bulk of the Estharian army notice at once because each enemy landed creating no sound, no impact whatsoever. Nobody even an inch below the surface could have sensed the invasion.

But they do hear it minutes later when the screaming is loud enough, and when enough blood has run down the ramps into the lower levels.

_**EG**_

"Griever" Ultimecia whispers from the sky and her voice reverberates throughout the whole city, her lust for her husband sends a boiling sensation through the buildings and the highways and the bodies of the citizens dead and alive. Balamb Garden pulses with lust like an aroused heart and thusly, the cock pit is under her influence.

She is putting herself in danger by passing through the membrane between two realities: the distortion that is the remains of Time Compression is where she can live safely, and beside it is a different reality untouched by time but not aging. The stuff she is made of will come undone if she is in the second reality for too long but she has the utmost confidence that she has won. Time Compression will overcome everything again and this time the SeeD's will not defeat her.

Their greatest weapon will be imprisoned inside her husband.

The mold minions attack the citizens before Squall Leonhart calls for backup from B-Garden and before the Estharian army can even realize there is a threat above them. These soldiers leap into the bodies of the citizens and corrupt their flesh from the inside out. Some try to fight back but to touch Ultimecia's minions is the same as being touched by them and they are the quickest to die.

No soldier would stand a chance against these living weapons anyway; their lives are prolonged by their ignorance.

"Soon husband, so soon," she says against the delicate membrane between realities, it feels just like womb-flesh so thin and wet, smooth against her. She imagines having him again and her arousal bubbles at the bottom of her stomach. She almost passes through, almost.

_**EG**_

"Disperse everyone!" Squall screams into the radio but the fucking thing might as well be turned off for all the response he's getting. There is nobody on the other end of the radio; he just hears the sounds of gears shifting and the heavy breathing of some horny sounding lunatic. His first thought was that something he doesn't want to imagine had happened to the pilot but he's sure there's only one person in the cockpit where the other radio is.

"Xu, I said disperse everyone!" He screams again as articulate as he is enraged but Xu is saying nothing, she might not even be in the cockpit anymore. He just hears this panting sound that could not be coming out of Xu or any woman.

"Whoever you are I want every SeeD and cadet in Esthar right now!" Nothing, nothing.

The divine bitch has somebody on the inside.

"Squall," Rinoa whispers so quiet, she was not really afraid until now.

Squall hears that familiar, ancient creek. The Garden sounds like a giant howling its death. Just as Squall realizes that Ultimecia has corrupted one of his own –…again…- B-Garden does make a move, but not the one he ordered.

B-Garden rises out of the Esthar harbor, turns around like a dial on a radio, and then flies away with his every soldier still in it. Squall flinches and squeezes his eyes shut when he hears the shockingly loud locking sound that tells him that the dragon mouth gates for the whelps have been locked from the inside.

They are on their own now, nine against thousands.

_**EG**_

Approximately eighty percent of the population on Esthar's surface is as liquor -liquid death and as pungent as thousand year mold throbbing with poison and moisture. Covering, dripping off the prismatic buildings and streets, a river of the dead of Esthar makes the entire city look like the Land of Oz melting like Jell-O in a microwave. This is Death's city now.

And the smell is astonishing.

Grave: the only true resistance there is against unleashing Griever is still unconscious and cannot fight Griever in his sleep. He is as good as comatose, his organs are functioning but his mind is distracted by strange dreams where he lives in another world as real as this one.

And just like a rope descending into a cavern to rescue someone who cannot crawl out; the smell of blood and death crawls into Grave's nostrils, and Griever snatches the tendrils of smell like lifelines with his ectoplasmic hand.

Inside Grave: Salamander, Lich, and Terrato are restraining the limbs and wings and tail of Griever with all their power but Grave cannot restrain him with them anymore, and the smell of death and blood is multiplying Griever's strength by the thousands.

_We'll make it this time,_ he thinks,_ we will crush the SeeD's this time and align the universe with our plans in peace_.

Time is very different for Griever than it is for humans or other Guardian Forces. Now, he feels as though he has always been trapped inside Grave and this opportunity to escape him is just like being a virgin, uneducated in sex completely, plunging into it for the first time and knowing every divine truth and detail from instinct. When he tastes the air it will be for the first time, when he touches his wife again it will be the first time, when the city of Esthar is wrecked for their new beginning it will be the first time.

And that last one really is true.

_**EG**_

If Joselyn were thinking this she would recall the ending of a movie she had once seen and whose title escapes her –of course. The narrator declares that after everything has come to pass that means that the universe has expanded to its limit; it will then collapse in on itself and start the whole process again. He then declares that if you do not do things right this time you will create the same mistake over, and over, and over again. This last bit is not true, not in this universe anyway.

In this universe when the universe collapses in on itself things do indeed happen again but not just the same way. On a subconscious level everybody knows that things have played out a certain way and may make different decisions and plans accordingly as though by instinct. Nobody in this universe knows this is how it works.

Except for Ultimecia and Griever, by ways of sorcery they know this as intimately as they know each other. They first learned when this universe first came to pass.

This is the third time it has passed.

The first time Ultimecia was not a factor during the time of the SeeD's on the planet Gaea. There were still orphans, there were still wars and traitors and conflicts but there was no all powerful sorceress bending reality. This is because she was yet to become Ultimecia.

After the wars there was peace for a long time. Zell Dintch died, Irvine Kinneas died, Selphie Tilmitt died, Quistis Trepe died, Seifer Almasy died… Squall Leonhart, died.

But Rinoa Heartily Leonhart, born an immortal sorceress lived on. And though she did not age she did change, her hair went white and lengthy as curtains, her eyes became yellow and her dress provocative in mourning for her love.

She went insane in her grief, and reigned over everything on Gaea until the first end of time.

But she was not crushed by the collapse; she survived and everything started over again without her. She watched everything happen again, she saw a new Rinoa born and a plan was born in her mind at the same time.

She saw a new Squall born as well.

Hyne watched eons away, helpless to stop her beloved daughter of creation.

Rinoa interfered this time and everything passed differently. She was the diabolical entity and they defeated her. Rinoa Heartily was defeated by herself.

Defeated she was but not dead. She worked magic on Squall that would transform him so he would not die a second time. He was hostile at first but he learned who she was and what he wanted. And with equal godlike selfishness he gave in and became just like her.

When she encountered the new Rinoa changing and losing her mind, she absorbed her, it was so much like a cup of salt being spilt into the ocean.

It was by the third time they decided they should rule.

The SeeD's did everything perfectly for her. They executed Time Compression just as she had expected them to. They showed up just as she had expected them to. What she didn't expect, what was her undoing, was the side effects of Time Compression that she had never dreamed of.

The essences of Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartily drifted into the body of a young boy in Dollet, and her Griever went into the boy with them.

Luckily the boy was in the castle with her after Time Compression was executed. He could have just as easily ended up in the center of the planet or out in space. But he ended up with her, and it did not take her very long to figure out how to coax her lover out of his prison.

She was defeated again, which she did not expect, and when Time Compression was undone –for the most part—the boy and the female anomaly of Time Compression were carried away into reality beyond her crippled reach.

Of all the time she has spent living, these last three years have been the most excruciating. Time has eroded her mind like an ectoplasmic syphilis. The only human parts of her that are left are love: her devotion to her husband and the massacring hatred for those who have kept them apart however accidentally. Joselyn would say she is just like Eleanor of Aquitaine; she's as dead as she's deadly.

But now Grave's body is hers, and she shall have her Griever back.

_**EG**_

Griever struggles valiantly against the three spirits restraining him. He tries to throw them away but Salamander and Lich just swing on his arms like baggy sleeves torn from wrist to shoulder, and Terrato tightens his bodily grip around him like an anaconda. These spirits are powerful but Griever can feel himself winning the struggle; just like when one pulls on tough licorice, snapping it after a world of frustrated effort. He can feel them begin to snap already

Grave's face is becoming his, the fangs protruding from the violet lips like toothpicks not spat out, and the fur growing out of his pores looking just like a primate disease at first.

_This boy will be mine._

Salamander holds tighter but Griever is becoming too strong. The stench of blood and death is empowering him in ways these great spirits cannot imagine. This spirit they have been restraining suddenly feels like flesh with thick fur and muscles rippling like a raging river.

This place, Grave's mind, is fluctuating like a sheet of aluminum and making a similar sound –the kind meant to imitate thunder- and those waves of sound cripple the spirits further. Griever's uprising is so powerful that even his prison is beginning to benefit him. The spiritual matter they are made up of shivers like gelatin and they are weakened while Griever is just like a stone in this raging river. He is a glacier and they are two lampreys trying to fully submerge him.

Griever rushes forward and Terrato's body snaps like a weathered rubber band.

Salamander and Lich cling to their enemy and cry not for Terrato. There may be time for tears later. Yhe shrapnel of that great wyrm falls behind them like shredded paper and disappears into the cavern of Grave's mind.

Griever flies through this vastness. Grave's mind is just like space, filled with stars and planets, places to explore. But the Espers must clutch at their enemy, and Griever must rush out of this mind to claim Grave's body as his prize in the physical world. He moves with the speed of a space shuttle breaking the barriers of atmosphere back into the planet, Salamander and Lich flap against him like the flames of reentry.

Griever hits the opening in Grave's consciousness, and the reality in this place shatters like ice against a flaming spike.

_**EG**_

Joselyn wakes up when it happens. Her eyes are just open, her awareness opened and exposed like quivering vision peering through raw eyelids.

She sees Grave turn ashen, just like a log smoldering beneath a hateful sun, his body seems to come apart particle by particle. His eyes are white stones, he looks monstrous, a dissolving gargoyle.

Then he shoots up into the air seemingly jumping without even pushing himself up from the ground. She sees a trail of reality left behind like soft dust. She looks to the sky and hates what she sees next, hates the slothfulness of her tired body. She can't get up; her skull might be cracked open. Grave becomes a black dot against the sun, then nothing.

Then the sky is filled by the demon.

It looks like an eclipse for a second; Griever is that large against the horizon of light in the sky.

Seifer wakes up next, and Joselyn speaks to the man who is as much her father as Mr. Abgestossen.

"They got him." She chokes, her throat shrinks and shrivels. She quivers inside like flesh withering under radiation.

Seifer looks up with his one eye, and though obviously worried, looks unimpressed. Joselyn is not looking at him to see this however, "You know what I think Joselyn?"

Joselyn turns her head, looks at Seifer, Quistis wakes up and doesn't look up right away.

Seifer says, "We're still alive, that means she hasn't won yet."

Hearing her lover's voice again encourages Quistis to open up her eyes. She looks up, sees Griever and understands. "We're too late," she says, would sound more frightened if she weren't exhausted by the explosion.

"No," Seifer and Joselyn say together.

Joselyn clutches her sheathed sword and strikes the ground. The marble cracks on impact and Joselyn lifts herself up by that leverage. She feels blades of pain slide up her back as she leans up but she ignores it as expertly as ever she skimmed over Quistis's homework. Because

_(The pain doesn't matter, the pain never matters)_

she cares not about her own body now. She fears that Grave really has dissolved and that the demon in the sky isn't actually using his body. This goes against everything she knows about Grave's transformative ability –or blight, that's probably a better way of putting it—but fear does everything it has too to kick your ass into gear. She has to think he is helpless but savable. Otherwise she would do nothing but for different reasons.

Joselyn stands up straight and stares up at the demon and her elders follow suit. Their uniforms are shredded and jagged with pieces of this road. She and Seifer wear the same scowl; tough enough to stop a bullet, thick enough to crush the hands of that demon.

"Die motherfucker," she whispers, she grasps the hilt of her sword as tight as she would that wretched things throat.

"Die." They whisper together, like demons more sinister than the god in the sky.

**Balamb's Demon**

"_Ants are in the sugar_. _Muscles atrophied. We're on the other side, the screen is us and we're the TV_."

Grave hears the voice of his brother the cyclopean singer. He heard this song once in the tavern where he played, he swore to him that this song came to him in a dream. He swore it was the voice of a man from anther dimension. Somebody called, 'The Antichrist.'

No, it was 'Antichrist Superstar.'

_What is the Christ, I wonder?_ Grave thinks.

"_Spread me open, sticking to my pointy ribs, are all your infants in abortion cribs."_

He remembers, listening to his brother sing this and believing it wasn't written by him. It couldn't have been written by anybody from Dollet. All artists whose work portrayed such macabre honesty was either shipped to Dollet –somebody called Dollet the city of decadence, might have been mom—or they just killed themselves for lack of an audience. His brother never killed himself. Grave is glad he didn't in the time he's been away.

"_I was born into this. Everything turns to shit. The boy that you loved is the man that you fear."_

Leo's voice reverberates in his mind as though he is with him again. His head is the tavern, and his thoughts are his brother's voice. He thinks nothing else. This song is the orchestra that fills the auditorium that is his entire mind.

Or rather, the portion of his mind that Griever has permitted him.

"_Pray until you're number, asleep from all your pain, your apple has been rotting, tomorrow turned up dead."_

"I have it all and I have no choice but to… I'll make everyone pay and you will see. You can kill yourself now, because you're dead in my mind. The boy that you loved is the monster you fear." Grave sings to himself, automatic like a precognitive shouting obscenities. He doesn't know he is singing, but he will remember all this when he wakes up.

If he wakes up.

Then he sings simultaneously with the voice of Leo screaming in his mind. In this place, this tangled limbo that is his prison inside Griever, these two voices sound out together as though the brothers were with each other again.

"_Pell off all those eyes, crawl into the dark, you've poisoned all your children to camouflage your scars. Pray unto the splinters, pray unto your fear, pray your life was just a dream, the cut that never heals. Pray now baby, pray your life was just a dream."_

"Pray your life was, just, a dream."

If anything, Joselyn was a dream.

Now that his memories are back to him totally, Grave thinks that Joselyn is the only extra ordinary thing he has come across in this life. Every memory of Dollet feels solid, not just real, but touchable, and in a way, dully so. His times at the academies after his transformation are the same –though jagged and poisonous because of his experiences with his peers, before he was called 'Demon' without affection—but Joselyn is different. Even by their horrible first impression.

Even in her arrogance and pissyness, her loveliness is ethereal. Now, as a spirit trapped inside this grievous demon, Joselyn does not seem real anymore. But the perfect dream.

_(Pray your life was just a dream.)_

She is everything he always wanted, everything.

She accepted his ferocity even after being threatened under it. She played along with his rudeness, and shot it right back at him with a smile on her face –and a missing beat in her heart. She took pleasure in his body, when monstrous and not under his own control –just like kissing a little boys bruise—she has protected him, just as he has protected her.

And they need each other.

It might have happened on that first night in Dollet, across the dissolving candle.

It might have happened when she accepted his apology, regretfully joining Tucker in their shared dorm.

It might have happened when she sucked on his elongated tongue after their first mission. Or when they fucked each other on the floor for the first time.

But they _***static***_ each other, as sure as the sun is bright. As sure as cancer kills.

Her affection has been all that has stood between him and snapping so many necks.

Now, it may be enough to wake him up.

Or…

"_When all of your wishes, have been granted…"_

"Many of your dreams will be destroyed."

_**EG**_

The mold creatures make no sound when Squall cleaves them in two. He used to be disgusted by the sound of a man's body splitting apart like that but it's a thousand times more unnerving to hear nothing. It feels like he's achieved nothing.

Then these creatures keep standing up again, and he knows he's right.

"What the fuck are we supposed to do?" Rinoa screams behind him, back to back they fend these creatures away from each other. Since they have no definitive shape –or species even, some are avian—it is impossible to tell their numbers. They seem limitless.

"Experiment!" Squall shouts and he waves his casting arm, "Thundaga!"

The great explosion of light breaks apart the mold soldiers nearest them and the bodies scatter like mulch all over the blue marble roads. Then the mold sifts like distorted sand, and the same soldiers rise up as though they'd not been blown apart in the first place.

"Not quite." Squall mutters then slashes at a soldier brave enough to come close.

Rinoa feels like screaming at Squall at first, but then she catches on to what he's doing. He wants to just try casting spells until they discover this new enemy's weakness so they can exploit it.

So he's just following protocol.

Suddenly, she feels very worried how Seifer must be fairing…

"Fire!" She screams and the magic comes from her voice like a smoky red ghost. When it touches a mold soldier the thing explodes in less than a second, and creates a swampy smell in a cloud of smoke that billows to twice its original size. She fears for a moment that she just created a new kind of enemy introducing fire to the things, but it dissipates. The smell lingers.

"Flames Squall. Contact everyone and tell them to use fire magic!"

Squall sends a stronger fire spell into the crowd, the row of soldiers in front of him dissolve from the feet up and a group bursts high into the air when the spell blasts upward from the ground.

Squall switches on the radio at his ear, "Attention, use fire magic on these… fucking things! Burn them up, burn them the fuck up!" He takes his casting hand away from the device and disintegrates another one, it explodes from the head down then billows into the air as though the spell had forced it in the wrong direction.

One hand on his ear, the other hand putting vibrant orange energy into his weapon, Squall says: "Junction fire to your weapons, that'll make this nightmare easier." They know what these things are susceptible to.

Now how can they defend against the enemies element?

_**EG**_

Selphie and Raijin come to just in time to see Joselyn rush ahead.

To Selphie it looked just like her heels clacked out of existence, vanishing upwards like springs bouncing into nothingness and disappearing. And just the tiniest wisps of gold and green trailing behind her like burning liquor. When she gets up she makes eye contact with Raijin, who's still waking up also, then up to Seifer and Quistis who've not had the time to budge.

Joselyn was in the sky in less than a second. Seifer, who never actually investigated Joselyn's Special Skill, was baffled by what he saw. His first thought was that Joselyn is secretly a sorceress, which he rightly manages to doubt when he catches a glimpse of the gold and green aura.

Quistis is the only one of the four who knows just what happened.

Or she can guess anyway. Based on how she's moving and how fast she's reaching Griever she must have combined Float and Tornado and cast it on herself; the float to get herself levitating, then the tornado to propel her body into the sky.

Joselyn might have torn her body to pieces creating such a powerful vacuum around her own body, there was no way she could have known she would survive that, she's either on the verge of being ripped to pieces by the force of that wind –or maybe that's just how she feels. She's being reckless, even more reckless than Seifer usually is.

She doesn't even know if she can survive Griever.

Selphie is beside Quistis, tugging her arm. "What do we do now Quistis?"

Quistis looks to Selphie then to the men, all three are watching her eyes. She's about to speak when the radio crackles and Squalls voice comes through clear as a bell for some reason.

"_Attention, use fire magic on these… fucking things! Burn them up, burn them the fuck up!"_ Static, then it turns on again. "_Junction fire to your weapons, that'll make this nightmare easier_."

"What is he talking…?"

Then the smell of mold floods down to their level, permeating the air everywhere with the dryness of heat stroke.

_**EG**_

Quistis's second guess was right; Joselyn just _feels_ like she's being ripped apart.

Joselyn couldn't say why she chose to cast those two spells precisely, except that the combination was the first one that came to mind that might bring her directly up to Griever. The idea that she might destroy herself came to mind secondly, and too late.

She lit up green and gold then spiraled up into the sky, carried up like a leaf in her own magic. And just as she was reaching the demon she cursed herself, because it also didn't occur to her that she might become dizzy for all the spinning.

At the height of the vacuum Joselyn still below the fucking things feet, the blade at the end of the tail swinging towards her, then just as the cleaver reaches her she plants her feet on the flat of the edge and activates the speed granted by Palidor.

She just about runs herself off the monster but dispels Float just before it can push her off and back down to the fallen city, then Joselyn rushes forward taking no care to stop and change course.

She spirals up the tail which ripples and tries to shake her off too late. She spins around Grievers torso like an obnoxious fly for she seems to lack direction. All the spinning on the way up tilted her brain very far to the left, though she'd swear she's only heading forward she's really executing an endless awkward left turn. But her brain eventually straightens herself out, and as soon as she finds herself running across the monsters teeth she stops.

Riding on the demons black lips, Joselyn flicks her sword up with both hands and splits one fang all the way to the root.

Grievers head lashes back and it roars the misery and vengeance of a dentist patient, the sound forces Joselyn higher into the sky, then Griever snatches her out of the sky.

Jaws open, tongue shining a bright hungry pink, Griever unfolds her fingers…

Nothing.

A thread of barely noticeable sensation runs from Griever's knuckle all the way to his back and he reaches both hands between his shoulder blades, scratches at the fur there trying to reach that spot on its back…

"PEST!" The demon screams and the buildings shake with his godlike aggravation.

For a moment, Griever can feel energy concentrating like a developing itch on his back –making his position look suddenly funny—but that energy isn't in his skin, it's being manipulated by the bitch crawling all over him.

Then that itch becomes a blazing spike in his spine, and his legs and tail go slack.

_Should've gone higher, _Joselyn thinks, but she was in a big hurry, she was lucky to do the damage she did.

She hopes to Hyne that she's right about this not really being Grave's body. She'll slash open her fucking throat after all this is over if he dies.

In fact, she thinks she will even if it doesn't happen by her hand.

Joselyn decides to put complete faith in that theory; that Grave is inside this thing, that it isn't his body. It doesn't feel like him.

_I'm going for the neck._

Joselyn is balanced on the back of Griever's neck in a second. The hairs on his back still whisper upwards when she halts. She holds the sword above her head; focus's another flare spell into the tip of the blade, the metal brims and cracks with red energy. If she were to hold the spell in the weapon too long it would likely explode.

Then her body is bound in muscles and black hair and Griever swings her away from that vulnerable spot –perversely, Joselyn is reminded of a movie again, a very old one featuring a giant monkey climbing the tallest building in Dollet. The demon holds her out in front of his face. The eyes she looks into are black and bestial, she wishes to Hyne she could see this beasts symbol instead, and a pair of wings.

Griever takes a moment to consider her and it feels disturbingly human. She was expecting this horrible demigod to rampage across the city the moment he was released, but he gave her plenty of time to launch herself up to him. He appears to be content to just let the madness around him happen without interference –the mold army is doing a fine job of laying waste to Esthar after all.

He spoke: "You remind me of a fairy tale, young woman." His voice is enormous and bizarrely human, but mad as an animal that has lived for centuries. "The wasp that stung to death the hunter. You just about had me little wasp."

Joselyn doesn't know the tale he's mentioning, thinks that Grave would.

Joselyn tries to look past the monster in front of her, tries to find her lover somewhere in that lion's face. "Grave!"

"Grave sleeps." Said Griever, the emotion behind the rumble difficult to interpret. "He's remembering his brother now, and the songs of another dimension."

She hates that she's listening to this monster but she can't help herself, he's so loud and majestic it almost feels like his voice is inside her. She remembers that the singer of Black Blood Vessel swore he heard music from other dimensions, he was sure to credit those he claimed actually wrote the songs. Most people thought it was a silly joke, Joselyn among them, suddenly she believes the singer was telling the truth.

"He thinks that he's the man I should fear. DO fear, in fact. Or perhaps he's just rifling through old memories. But in any event he sleeps. And with me taking his place in reality he will be asleep forever."

"Grave!"

"Think of it this way little wasp," _Don't listen to it, don't listen to this, scream for him until he comes out! _"This way, your lover can live forever."

Griever curls his fist so Joselyn is vanished from sight, then he flings her back down to the road she launched from. She plunges back to the marble roads with bullet speed.

Griever flaps his wings high and looms over Esthar like a second, grotesquely shaped moon.

_**EG**_

Joselyn strikes the marble with all the impact of a beach ball, and then she floats up three inches like a feather above a fan lying down. The magic light feathers manifest above her after she begins floating as though it were a secondary effect of the spell. Joselyn becomes upright, then dispels herself. She stares up at the demon she just failed to kill.

Quistis feels compelled to scold the girl for her supremely Seifer-like behavior –even Seifer is on the verge of doing it—but now is not the time to discourage anybody. It wouldn't do any good anyway; Joselyn would just summon her smart-assery, she'd probably just say, "Now isn't the time to discourage anybody."

Instead she puts her hand on Joselyn's shoulder, the young woman doesn't react.

"Joselyn." She says.

"Yeah?"

"Don't do that again."

"No Promises."

Quistis shakes her head, behind them Seifer smiles.

Seconds later Joselyn is distracted from the villain. "What's that smell?" Like the rest of them she is less appalled by the smell as by what it might mean.

"We think something's coming." Says Selphie, Joselyn forgot the little woman was even with them. "We got a transmission from Squall that said we should be using fire on whatever comes down here."

"Noted."

_She doesn't care,_ thinks Quistis, _she just wants Grave back. She might even endanger us to get him._

That's not true, Joselyn knows how Grave cares for Quistis, and loosely admires Seifer. And by extension from them Raijin and Selphie mustn't be sacrificed either. Joselyn would keep Grave's wishes into account even at a time like this. Surely.

"Well," Joselyn begins, "it's not pleasant but we have a method of getting up to that bastard. Now what are we going to do about whatever the fuck is coming down here for us?"

"What we're going to do is go to the bottom and retrieve Zell like we were ordered to," says Quistis. "All of us are going down to get him before we do anything else, we'll… Seifer where are you going?"

While she ranted Seifer was walking back up the ramp, drawing both of his swords and twirling them in each hand like a goddamn fool. He stops when Quistis calls to him, turns around. Amidst this heavy smell of mold he looks unnaturally upright.

"Come back," Quistis says, but the order sounds desperate.

He doesn't. Instead Seifer sticks one sword into the road and beckons her; he must have expected her to notice he was leaving.

Quistis opens her mouth to yell at him but Joselyn interrupts her. "Just go up there woman. After the city is destroyed and infested I don't think anybody's going to be inclined to follow protocol."

Inside, she feels like cracking the whip. But Joselyn is right, Esthar has fallen, will never be restored. And whatever the hell is up there wants them to.

And Seifer seems to think he can do something about it.

Quistis rushes past Selphie and Raijin and doesn't stop until she's two inches from Seifer's face. He looks down on her looking suspiciously wise, and loving.

"What do you want to do Seifer?"

"Call me boy."

Her heart stops, starts up again like a clogged engine forcing itself alive. Now she understands.

"Will it hurt you?"

"Yes but I'll live."

"Oh." Her eyebrows elevate happily. "Never mind, no sympathy for you then."

As fiercely as Grievers beating wings Quistis smacks Seifer like he was a misbehaving child. The force of the strike bends him so he is slouching down to eye level with her. His eye smolders bright with magic ferocity, that pride he stood with seconds ago evaporating.

Quistis thinks two things about this:

_I can't believe I'm doing this._

_It's happening a lot faster this time isn't it?_

She's afraid to say it, thinks he'll explode on the spot if she does as he asks but she has to. "To the upper levels with you boy." That's not her own voice she thinks, she doesn't know where she summoned this schoolmistress wickedness…

_Goodness… is this what my students saw when I was eighteen?_

Red light ripples down Seifer's back and bends him further so he looks like some unnatural animal.

Gold lightening tears reality beside the road and that bright shape opens wide like a clamshell, then a voice. Its sounds electronic, slightly distorted, as though it were coming from primitive speaker phones.

And it is.

"_Unnatural mummy? You tell me, what's nature's way? If poisoned mushrooms grow and babies come with crooked backs, if goiters thrive and dogs go mad and wives kill husbands, what's unnatural? Here stands your lamb. Come cover him with kisses; he's all yours."_

"What the fuck?" Someone shouts, it's impossible to tell who amidst the noise.

"Go Quistis!" Seifer shouts as his eye bulges with outrageous energy, he looks about ready to explode like a balloon filled with gasoline then lit up.

Quistis runs down the ramp feeling that destructive energy crackling around her lover. The air around him is already scattered with bright red spots. Selphie and Raijin are already running down the ramp.

But Joselyn is standing still. Still staring up at that monstrosity in the sky.

Quistis grabs the Amazonian girl by the shoulder without stopping. "Joselyn hurry we need to-" Silver flashes in front of Quistis's face and she jumps back from Joselyn, whose sword she now holds behind her back. It had been in the scabbard just before she grabbed the girls shoulder.

Joselyn turns her head to Quistis and the hatred she sees there burns as bright as Seifer's own eye. A single yellow hair floats down between them and Joselyn pinches it out of the air with thumb and forefinger.

"I'm going back up." Joselyn says, and Quistis knows that no amount of authority, nor threatening will move this girl.

_She's still just a girl._

_So am I._

Quistis pauses, Seifer screams and a flash of red light disintegrates a huge portion of the road not two feet away from Joselyn. The girl doesn't budge, that blazing hatred doesn't relax.

"You have twenty minutes to bring him back." Quistis says finally.

Joselyn responds by saluting, then spiraling up high into the sky.

Quistis watches her go, and then runs down the road. Five comrades left behind now.

_Hyne help us._

_**EG**_

Grave still dreams that he is watching his brother in that tavern, reciting the music of the mysterious Antichrist Superstar. He sings along having heard the song the night before, for he is dreaming of a night that happened once. It was one of the happiest moments of his life.

And for all the misery he has endured, fate has granted him this chance to relive it.

His brother sings vibrantly, his own voice is turning stones in that undercurrent: "Pinch the head off, collapse me like a weed, someone had to, go, this far." The girl sitting next to him turns her head; she is appalled by the song that dares mention the word 'abortion' and that ignorance of hers makes the singing more majestic to Grave; Rafer who was.

"I was born into this, everything turns to shit, the boy that you loved is the man that you fear."

Dreaming thusly Grave can look back on this moment from a Hynes-eye-viewpoint. When this was happening he was too young to appreciate the meaning of this music, and perhaps Leo was as well being even younger. This music was about the kind of misery that tends to happen to adults, a sudden panic attack that transforms your mind. But he finds these lyrics endearing and entertaining, and perversely spiritual.

Someday, he will appreciate such depictions of transformation.

"Peel off all those eyes, crawl into the dark, you've poisoned all your children, to camouflage your scars. Pray unto the splinters, pray unto your fear, pray your life was just a dream the cut that never heals."

_I love this part._

"Pray now baby, pray your life was just a dream. Pray now baby pray your life was just a dream… just a dream. The world in my hands, there's no one left to hear you scream, no one left for you."

Then each band member –with Rafer's help—speak the same monotonous message; not simultaneously, but with some bizarre non-musical rhythm which, perhaps by accident, lacks discord.

"When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams, will be destroyed."

Back then, Rafer hadn't experienced enough to know that was true. It would be months yet before he would become Grave

_(The boy that you loved is now the man that you fear)_

and flee to Galbadia Garden. For now, he knows it in his soul, and rejoices for simply singing the truth. Rejoices for singing itself, for the truth itself.

Then a phantom spike pierces his spine and the dream dissolves like soft bread under water. His legs go slack -but not really. At once he tries to bend his knees and they bend for him, he can see them moving. But they feel dead momentarily, ghost legs hanging from his equally dead waist… and a tail.

Grave is fully conscious now, and Griever knows it, he also knows they are not so linked that they would share wounds. Grave is in fine health while Griever is in utter dependency of his wings.

_So this is what it's like for the Espers._

Grave had often wondered what it was like for the spirits being inside human minds, he had imagined landscapes of texture and sensation, and he was wrong. Grave was floating in void, and now he knows this is what it's like to be harbored by somebody.

No wonder they want freedom. Grave thinks if he had to stay in such a state for untold periods he would lose it and lash out once freed for a summoning. He admires their patience as he should now, as he always should have.

"Now." Grave's voice echoes endlessly, makes him sound a thousand times more majestic than he is. "How the fuck do I get out?"

Grave looks all around him but there's nothing. He can't ask Salamander or Lich how he came conscious again, can't even ask them what he should do for their weeping is even louder than the majestic echo.

"This is no time to grieve you two."

Always we grieve.

Early grieving.

All grieving is early.

Grave wishes he were singing in the tavern again, dreaming of celebrating the depressing truth before he even knew what it was. He wishes…

"No."

No, he wishes he were really with Leo again, with Joselyn. He wishes he was out of this demons head so he could finish the bitch and bury Terrato, bury everyone who's still lying in the sun. He wants this shit to be over, he wants to set the markers, the early graves.

"And to kick mine down."

_**EG**_

As soon as B-Garden lurched when everybody knew it shouldn't, Fujin was ashamed of herself for being so pathetic.

She threw herself out of the dorm room with Terra at her heels; her lover seems to glide over the floor as though she had wheels instead of feet. Fujin pounds the floor with each boot step, she knows where the trouble is, the cockpit, it has to be the cockpit.

She never did trust that girl they appointed in Nida's place when he stopped showing up at the helm. Fujin's shocked the man was never deported even during such a distressing time.

There is much talk but Fujin and Terra are the only ones who are heading to the source of the problem. Every other real authority figure is in Esthar right now, Xu isn't saying a word for some damn reason. That woman is usually so fucking punctual, what's wrong with her?

Fujin literally punches the UP button for the elevator and the door opens at once as though flinching. They enter and lift and the door slides shut with the sound of a guillotine crashing on nothing. Fujin taps her boot the whole way up, Terra hums quietly to bring some rest to her lover's crazed nerves.

"Something's fucked."

"Agreed. But don't lose it."

"Never do." Fujin says smiling, and Terra gives her a good strong condescending look.

_Oh but Seifer does leave his mark on people doesn't he?_ Terra thinks.

They rush into the highest room as soon as they can and Fujin is distressed seeing nobody else up here. She should be seeing Xu, she should at least be stamping some nonsense in her office but she isn't even in there. It's just her and Terra, and whoever is piloting this great fucking Easter egg.

Fujin punches the button for the final elevator leading to the cockpit but instead of flinching open it speaks to her, "Unauthorized entry, please fuck off." The voice is obviously recorded, the tenor of a sniveling teenager.

"Somebody knows how to reprogram our system."

"The little things anyway."

Fujin, being away from the privacy of her and Terra's room, is not inclined to fuck around right now. She unclips her weapon from the back of her belt, takes two steps to her left, and slashes down the crease where the door slides into the wall when opening. The sound is nerve-wracking but these women flinch not, not even when the door falls from its slashed hinges and slams on the floor.

The mechanical voice repeats the re-programmed message over and over again now, the voice of that dribbling adolescent repeating over and over again with obnoxious mechanical meter.

"Unauthorized entry, please fuck offUnauthorized entry, please fuck offUnauthorized entry, please fuck off…"

"Let's silence that soon love." Terra says.

"Agreed."

The lift rises faster than the first elevator and halts with the sound of a shotgun cocking.

Fujin couldn't be more surprised by who she sees behind the steering shaft. This boy piloting the Garden must have been the same one to re-program the intrusion alarm. This one is just a boy, and Fujin has heard his voice before, she's shocked at herself for not recognizing it at once.

This boys name is Tucker.

Tucker turns his head, the grin-shaped stitch stretching across his lips and cheeks looks out of place for his eyes are wide with fear.

Caught.

Fujin grabs the stupid boy his collar and slams him on the floor, the Garden jerks and starts floating in a different direction but slowly.

"All right kid." Fujin beings, "you're going to confess right now, honest, so I can know how the fuck you're supposed to be punished."

Anybody else might have come up with a divine and convincing lie, but Tucker has never been so clever, not even after basic training, which teaches you such things before anything else. "Mistress, she said…"

Fujin grabs the boy's neck and squeezes, the muscle and bone, not the windpipe; she needs him to be able to speak. "Ultimecia then? You've been seduced by the goddess of all bitches?"

Tucker says nothing, tries to come up with a contradiction for that, but Fujin interrupts.

"Fine then, how'd you get into the fucking cockpit, how'd you get passed our real pilots?"

"She said I had to distract you." Instant confession. Perfect.

"Distract us how?"

Tucker chokes, and then speaks squeakily, "Zell Dintch disappeared, Irvine Kinneas disappeared shortly before I think –I can't remember who left first. The heroes really cared about them; I knew I could make it look like they killed each other."

"Because murder tends to happen between people who are close."

"Yeah." Tucker spits up, his grin catches the spit and it runs down his cheek like an elongated grin. "Then I thought, I had to get someone else, somebody no one will notice, no one will miss. Everyone had to keep thinking it was Zell or Irvine in that room.

"Then it hit me.

"Nida, nobody ever notices Nida."

Fujin's muscles slacken, but not enough to give the little wimp the advantage. She won't let this little bastard go, not now…

"So when we thought it was Zell, or Irvine smeared all over that room…?"

Tucker is crazed now, talking quietly, working for Ultimecia has broken his mind, he just repeats the last thing he said like a malfunctioning MP3 player. "Nida, nobody ever notices NidaNida, nobody ever notices NidaNida, nobody ever notices Nida…"

The discord between this boy and the speaker he reprogrammed is unbearable. It feels like Ultimecia herself is here to enhance the madness to keep her from helping everybody who's still in Esthar.

"Terra." Terra nods to Fujin, who senses the movement without seeing it. "Destroy that speaker, I can't stand to listen to this."

Terra nods, then goes back down the elevator. Within seconds the speakers are silenced and Fujin is left with the boy repeating his message.

Oh, Nida.

"Oh, Nida."

"Nobody ever notices NidMMMF!" Fujin cuts the little prick off smashing her fist into his teeth. His teeth cut her knuckles but at least his mouth is shattered now. Blood and bits of tooth float at the back of his mouth. She knows if she held him still he'd swallow then choke. She wasn't that close to Nida but anyone causing this much trouble to her home should suffer and terribly. She would do it…

But she ought to leave this little bitch to Xu.

Fujin drags Tucker up and throws him onto the lift. A small red pool wells up at his mouth as the lift descends, probably spills over by the time the lift reaches the bottom.

Fujin takes the helm, she doesn't have as much experience as Nida did but she can keep it from crashing into an iceberg. That'll have to do.

"I'm sorry Nida."

B-Garden halts at once then turns one hundred and eighty degrees. When it stops, Fujin sees the shape of Griever in the distance, then she hesitates.

But only for a second.

"We're coming commander. We're coming."

Two minutes later Fujin announces over the intercom that the traitor has been apprehended and that the Garden is going back to Esthar. They're taking the heroes back, they're expecting casualties, she turns off the intercom before she can hear any complaints the students and other soldiers might have.

"We're coming everyone."

I'm coming Seifer, Raijin.

"I'm coming."

_**EG**_

Joselyn almost splits apart this time, she can feel her skin about to come off once she's at belly level with Griever, her bones shift apart and her eyeballs nearly burst out of her skull. It's funny really; if Griever hadn't tried to snatch her out of the air she would have died from the pressure and wouldn't have been a problem.

But he had to be sure to swat that little fly this time.

Griever's great hand came down on her, he felt her caught between his palm and curling middle finger. One more second and she would have been smashed against a tower and ground up in the impact of that shattering marble. But the second Griever made contact; his knuckle burst open by a blazing slash. The fur on his arm up to is shoulder parted as though by a blade of wind, then the finger fell off.

Joselyn seems to move faster than before. The fur on Griever's torso parts in a spiral from armpit to groin then back again in just a few seconds. His fur is speckled with bright blood wherever he grabs for her with the damaged hand. The lion's body is soon the black, reddened skin of a leopard.

The spinal cord is knitting back together, but slowly.

Inside, Grave stirs.

_**EG**_

Squall and Rinoa stand back to back, pressed together. The smell of this grievous mold is a thousand times more horrible when it burns. The smoke is ink-black, and they have burned so many of them now that they can't see much of the sky above them, for that black cloud hangs low, it is heavy with sorrow.

And Rinoa feels it as though it were her own grief.

The mold elementals haven't come near them for twenty now, they've been trying. Some leap high into the safety zone they've created but when they're only coming in one or two at a time they're manageable.

As soon as they discovered fire was the weakness –they might have guessed sooner, Rinoa thought immediately—Rinoa set a ring of fire around them, and rose it so high that some of the monsters didn't even make it over the flames and burned before the SeeD's were even in sight.

They can't see anything beyond a twenty foot radius but their safe. Nothing will get in or out.

Then, when they heard the blast from where the ramp belonged, they didn't know what it was. Not at first. Squall was baffled for he wasn't there when it happened the first time. It was the sound of simple disintegration, life forms being unmade by cosmic burning.

But Rinoa was there the first time.

"Seifer."

"That's Seifer?"

"That's the sound of the red explosion he emerges from." That last word is drowned out by the roar of a fiery deluge next to their blazing barrier; the sound is like smoldering, but sharper like the crackle of electricity.

"Hyne, was that him too?"

That same sound, much closer this time. Rinoa wonders briefly if Seifer is in control at all, they might be in danger from him too.

"Let's just say that we might be able to take our barrier down soon."

_Maybe._

_**EG**_

Joselyn stops on Griever's shoulder and just for a second she can stop to breathe.

She sucks in the air right away and lets it out in less than a second. She sees the city of Esthar at its end. The city of clear blue marble is empty as far as the eye can see; Joselyn can plainly see that she and the heroes are the only living things left here. The buildings are crumbling; many have fallen and shattered many intertwining roads doing so. It's less than half a city now really, for there is no trace left of living inhabitants. Every drop of human DNA has dripped to the bottom by now.

But she stops for too long.

The hand she didn't injure has her in its grasp suddenly and reflexively she stabs the hand bone-deep but the demon doesn't flinch. Griever holds her in front of his face; she stares into the demonized eyes of Squall Leonhart. Orbs of storm from uncountable eons. She twists the blade in his hand but he flinches not this time, he's come to expect her level of savagery now.

"You've become a troublesome pest little wasp."

"Grave!"

Griever laughs, the bellow of a crazed mountain. The buildings shake from the resonance of his amusement. "The boy sleeps woman, I've told you. There's nothing you can do," Griever's jaw snaps open and coughs as though suddenly jagged from swallowed glass. A droplet of blood the size of Joselyn wells up at the corner of the demons mouth and soaks the fur on his face.

His grip on her tightens, but doesn't break her.

_He's lying._

"The boy…" COUGH, "is stuck in me, caught like a worm in sewage." The demon coughs again and blood runs down his chin and throat in bright and beautiful rivulets. His death is artwork, as gorgeous as it is relieving.

Then the clouds above burst like beer foam blown away, and the witch descends.

She is just as she was when the heroes fought her the final time; a great multicolored hourglass whose second head hands below the dress. This is her true form now; the red harlot she usually personifies is the closest thing she can shape shift into her original form, the closest thing she can achieve to Rinoa Heartily.

The hand slackens and Joselyn falls out of the demons grip, her blade slides out easily as though imbedded in rotten fruit, then she lands on the spire Griever has fallen against. His arm swings at his side slack as a rope. Ultimecia clutches Griever by the shoulders for his wings have lain against his back.

"Squall!" Ultimecia screams from a thousand witch's throats. The hanging head wails as though sick from flu.

"Squall?" Joselyn says, and watches the monsters above her. Griever raises his head to the faceless Ultimecia, they seem to stare into each other, though physically that looks impossible.

"Rinoa." The demon says, blood pours down chin like a red river and sticks thickly to blue building he hangs to. From the other side of the tower that blood looks like a deep purple vein.

He reaches his great injured hand and clutches her shoulder, his fingers dig into her flesh and cosmic blood pours down her bosom which mirrors his mouth. She doesn't flinch, grips him just as desperately. They finally made it, but for nothing, for a few seconds of misery before the SeeD's crush them again.

"No." Ultimecia growls, then roars "NOT AGAIN!" She raises her right arm high then it is entwined by the golden lightning of Time Compression. She has some control over it after all. She looks down on Joselyn first, hatred pulsing from her in electric waves in the absence of her face.

Then a deafening wet snap shakes the city, and her casting arm flickers out then swings at her side, disconnected from the socket.

Griever's claws are sunk deep into Ultimecia's shoulder. The falling blood shatters marble and windows below. That Black Hand squeezes the intact tendons, twists until each muscle fiber snaps like so many giant bungee cords. Then he rips the arm out and drops it into the abyss below Esthar. Ultimecia's arm socket explodes liquid redness. She looks down on her lovers face.

And sees the eyes of a dead man.

"NO!" Ultimecia shakes both of her heads, top and bottom; her scream seems to come from the very sky. "NO YOU'RE COMING BACK WE'RE STARTING AGAIN!" She rips her other hand away from Griever's flesh and jabs her hand into the sky. Her hand disappears, seemingly into an invisible pocket, then she rips her hand back out and reality opens up in a bright yellow wound.

Joselyn never had to hide from a natural tornado, but she thinks this is the sound of one; the howl of nature itself suffering. Reality bends and twists in front of the yellow wound and as though flowing into it, being sucked up. Bits of blackness from the mold soldiers fly into it, and bit by bit Griever and Ultimecia herself flow into the yellow cut.

_She's taking everything back, she wants to start over._

"Bitch."

"WE'LL START OVER SQUALL!" Ultimecia screams into Griever's scowling face, it's obvious to Joselyn that only Grave's consciousness is there. "WE'LL GET THEM NEXT TIME, WE'LL TRY AGAIN!"

Instead of the embrace she wants, Grave, through Griever, grabs Ultimecia by her waist and throws her into the yellow portal. She hits it like a body striking water form a hundred foot fall, then spins out of existence like a goldfish in the toilet bowl. Gone.

"GRAVE!" Joselyn screams, _he can hear me now, he's back, he's safe_. "GRAVE!"

The possessed body of Griever turns the Joselyn, the body being sucked away hair by hair but those deadened eyes she loves are locked on to her, the lion's head atop the cross, and the wings of the angel.

"JOSELYN!" He roars then bursts like a bag of hair exploded by air pressure.

The left hand of Griever grasps the top of the tower just in front of Joselyn and all at once the body of Griever explodes in a blizzard of black hair and white feathers and is sucked inside the portal in the sky.

Then, right where the middle finger was imbedded, Grave crouches, his face scrunched up and his right arm still trapped in a writhing tendril of black lion's hair.

_**EG**_

At the bottom of the city –or as close as one can get—Zell and Irvine crouch back to back, surrounded by the vengeful spirits of soldiers they never fought in the first place. Though they did indiscriminately destroy most if not every resident of the city, they know that these men are real targets, for they sense the love they have for the other heroes they must slay.

The mold creatures crawl, shamble and swoop in on them from all sides, each one intent on claiming the kills.

Then, flake by flake, they begin to ascend into the air, and a few seconds later every soldier explodes upward in a sucking cosmic wind. Zell and Irvine feel themselves being sucked up too but it only raises them a few feet before every soldier is claimed. And once the last black flake is gone they're dropped back to the ground.

They don't think any of their bones are broken.

Minutes later Quistis and company find them, and cry a reunion that we won't get to see.

_**EG**_

Squall and Rinoa are so close to the vacuum that it takes less than a second. They aren't lifted even an inch off the ground.

The flames around them whip up and vanish and reveal nothing around them. No smoke, no sparks, no black crumbling soldiers. Just a dead blue city.

They look around for Seifer and spot him far away, red light and blackness spiraling off his body like dust being sucked into a tornado. Green fire pierces through the twisting flakes of red and black making it look like a demonic strand of DNA.

When the last of the curse is sucked into the sky, Seifer collapses. Both of them run to him.

_**EG**_

"Grave!" Joselyn leaps forward and squeezes Grave in her arms, she can feel the pull of the tendril on his arm, it's trying to take him in too.

Grave opens his eyes and stares into Joselyn's own, he's never looked so desperate and it twists her heart to see it. "Cut it off!"

"What?" _What the fuck do you mean 'cut it off?'_

"My arm!" He screams into her face. "It won't fucking let go of me Joselyn, cut off my fucking arm!"

She hesitates, and in that time great gobs of what looks like black dust from through the city of Esthar filter into the hole in the sky. Every single mold-soldier is absorbed in the seconds it takes Joselyn to accept that that hand will never touch her again.

If she had a moment to consider, Joselyn would have refused. She would have thought he was crazy, talked sense into him. But Grave is going through this, not her, and she doesn't get to have time to think. If he says the arm goes…

In an instant Joselyn skips backward, clutches the hilt of her sword, and draw-slashes at the center of Grave's bicep. The black tendril is sucked into the portal in an instant, Joselyn clutches the stump she left at her lovers shoulder and her hand glows with the light of curing magic. She doesn't take her hand away until the light and suction of the violent portal has died down, they look up at the sky together and see that yellow window is gone.

The city is silent.

But it doesn't feel silent. The whole place is still vibrant with the energy of a thousand holocausts. It's impossible to believe that the enemy is gone.

But she is. And so is her husband.

For now.

Atop the cracked blue tower Grave and Joselyn kneel in front of each other. They look into each other, and it feels like months, many months since they connected thusly, yet they haven't even been together for so long. Haven't even known each other for so long.

They don't want to say anything; they fear their very voices could shatter the crumpling building they kneel upon. Grave touches Joselyn's hair with the hand he still has.

"Joselyn." He whispers, can't speak louder than a whisper anyway.

"Yes Grave?" She asks, balancing on the edge of tears, can barely speak…

He asks, "How the fuck are we supposed to get down?"


	19. Epilogue

_Before your body was in the ground,_

_I spun an urn for your ashes._

_I screamed and pleaded to bury you raw,_

_I filled the urn with sand._

_Before your body was in the ground,_

_I swore you looked alive._

_Though waxy white, though ghastly eyed,_

_I swore you were alive._

_I swore that you'd not died._

_I swore, I swore, I swore, I swore._

_That you'd not fucking died…_

_After your body was in the ground,_

_I wept not a drop._

_I shed off flakes and dusty bits._

_For my eyes were all dried up._

_I tried all needles._

_And tubes of dust._

_I tried the fungus, and poison pills._

_Because I must, I must…_

_And I swore that forever…_

_That before I died._

_I'd see you another…_

_I'd see you,_

_Another time._

_One more time._

_Brother, by Black Blood Vessel_

**The Garden of Stone: Epilogue**

_**This brother dreams.**_

_**I must be dreaming, for the last thing I can remember is resting against Joselyn's shoulder. The loss of a limb takes a lot out of you, I've never felt so tired aside from the first time Joselyn and I did it on the floor.**_

_**Now my body is complete again, I've wrapped myself up and those bandages stick to me with rot. I mimic the leper. I'm shrouded in a cloak that's older than I am –somehow I know I am in my twenties, and that the years in this world are counted differently anyway.**_

_**I feel a book in my hands, heavy, but not so heavy to me. I lift it up in the moonlight, no cover, spine has been worn away. I flip through the pages and mostly see text and strike my finger in the part between pages when I see an illustration.**_

"_**Hmm…"**_

_**I'm reading porn, fancy that.**_

_**I slap the book closed feeling that I've already read half of it anyway; slip it into a pouch beneath my cloak containing nothing else. Where is this place, and the world it's in?**_

_**My mind is trying to pry up names and places but can't articulate anything just -like when you have a word just on the tip of your tongue. I feel like I'm trying to draw up a storm so I let it settle, and feel the swirling information spiral away from my attention span.**_

_**I'll settle for the immediate area.**_

_**I'm on a wide dirt road parting a forest. The trees are thick and packed tight together the same way curling weeds orgy. It's bizarre that this could grow naturally; I wonder what it would take to decimate that much plant life to make this road.**_

_**I see nothing in the direction I was heading, but the road narrows and the trees loom higher. But the road I'm coming from, that's interesting, there's a different source of light down there.**_

_**Down the hill I see a town that stretches for at least miles but must be less than half a mile wide from this viewpoint, rectangular. There are no streetlamps or electric lights; this world is too archaic for that. The light is a blaze, spreading like spilt acid, and splattering elsewhere from a creature I can't quite tell apart from the things trying to apprehend it.**_

_**Thought the creature down there is spreading the flames, somehow I think this must be my fault.**_

_**Can't say I care.**_

_**I feel different in this world. I'm still me -couldn't mistake me for somebody else. But I sense that in this place a lot more shit has fallen on my head. A lot more went wrong a lot faster. In this world, I think the kind of life I lived before Time Compression happened, my life in Dollet, such a time didn't happen here. Maybe not for anyone in the world.**_

_**The light burns brighter, and brighter, and when I try to shield my eyes I feel the light is searing throughout all reality. The light flickers out like rainfall stopping suddenly, then everything is ink, everything is black.**_

_**Then that storm of information rises up from me and tears around the blackness like a dividing typhoon. I see I hear I smell I touch I taste a whole lifetime in just one second -I could never have caught it all-but I don't get to see how it ends, if it ends.**_

_**Of course it ends. It's got too.**_

_**Doesn't it?**_

_**More than anything else, I hear voices. And I think the words of some anonymous entity –it's just like prose- across the membrane of my eyes.**_

**Vampire's…Primordial ooze…**

"_So you're my new pet."_

**When someone dies on you…**

"_Grave!"_

…**the world seems to change…**

"_Death…"_

…**but it's really just you.**

"…_bird."_

**Cornucopia Ostentat.**

"_Where's the fucking boy!"_

**Baron Abgestossen.**

"_Deathbird."_

**...after scaphism.**

"_Deathbird!"_

…**the glass settles…**

"_DEATHBIRD!"_

_**And I know that I am Deathbird.**_

"Grave wake up!"

_**Deathbird… I must be Deathbird, who else?**_

"Grave, for fuck's sake we're here."

The dream is gone, I smell Joselyn again and feel alive, feel completely myself.

I sit up from her reluctantly. Joselyn and I are in a whelp on the way to Deling City. Both of our parents are still living according to reports, and both live on different sides of the city. Actually, Joselyn's being dropped off right away, I'm being dropped off near Dollet first, but they'll bring me back to Deling as well within the hour.

I really wish I could go with her, but at first glance her parents will probably not approve of me. She thinks if she tells them about me for a while then it'll be okay for me to show up. I'm fine with that; I don't want to give those people a shock. Joselyn seems to care about them even though she can't remember them too well.

I sympathize completely.

I look up at Joselyn and she's looking down on me. I must be downcast because her smile slacks when we make eye contact.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I was about to ask you that."

I smile, can't help it. "I just had a dream, I think it was a bad one, but I can't quite tell if it was about me or not."

"Tell me, we've still got a couple of minutes before the gimped hatch opens up."

I laugh at that, they still haven't fixed that little glitch in the Whelps yet, but I guess I should be happy of that right now. "Well: the bare bones of it are this; I was in another world where I suffered a lot more than I did in this one."

Joselyn's eyebrows rise, she probably doesn't want to think about either of us suffering more than we already have. "I'm gonna regret this, but tell me the rest."

"It was really scattered after a while. The place is very medieval, and I have to disguise myself as a leper in order to fit in. I'm reading fantastic pornography with art museum-like illustrations. Then I heard a lot of vague words, and saw similar things being written on the inside of my eyelids."

"Like what?" She doesn't miss a beat, I love that about her.

"Can't really remember, I think I've lost it already." Disappointing. "But I know it was me, and I wasn't in Gaea."

"Hmm. You know what that makes me think of?"

"What?"

"Black Blood Vessel."

"Oh for Hyne's sake what the fuck doesn't?"

"I mean it!" She smacks me, playfully. "You know how Leo says that some of his songs aren't really his, right? He hears them from other dimensions?"

"He was saying that before he made it big, course I know."

"Well he has that one song, 'Lead Dealer' he said he wrote about a story that was told to him from another dimension. 'Child Roll… something, I think."

"I'm familiar with it, what's your point?"

"Well there's one lyric in that song that stands out to me above everything else, even more than the chorus."

"Really?"

"Really, really. He says, 'There are other worlds than these."

"Think that has any merit?" I ask, feeling skeptical.

"I believe it." She says, the same way she confesses to love me, when nobody else is listening.

"Hmm." Is all I can muster, and we feel the hatch open all the way. Joselyn undoes her seat belts. She touches my hand and kisses my cheek.

"I'll see you later Grave, later today I hope." She winks at me and I wish I could have her right now.

"I won't be long, it's a really quick errand, I promise." I mock the hand sign of the scouts to make her smile, and she struts off the whelp with that confidence she swears I provide. I think it's just her pride honestly -her sexy pride- but if she wants to inflate my ego who am I to stop her?

It takes the hatch about twenty minutes to close. Once it's sealed we're in the air again.

_**EG**_

The project of adding rooms to B-Garden is not yet finished, they've already added the things they found most important, now they're struggling for ways to fill the space just for the sake of balancing the vessels weight. It was just a few days ago they finished the last one. It was a fine idea, at Grave's request.

A cemetery.

The format here is similar to Juusan Park. It's the same fan shape as every other area, the walkways are similar, but in this room the weeping willows sprout from every dimension of the room –those trees hanging from the ceiling make the place almost too bizarre, but nobody's complained yet.

Every gravestone is the same white half circle marking name, date of birth, date of graduation, date of death. Benches are easily come by on the brick walkways. The benches are seldom used however, since none of them face any one gravestone.

Xu's been spending a lot of time here.

Tucker didn't get a gravestone; he would have needed several after what Xu was allowed to do with him. Grave had the pieces sprinkled with rock salt to take the curse away, then the chunks were thrown in the ocean.

People don't talk about Tucker much.

Unlike the signs in front of the other areas in the Garden Grave decided to take some poetic license. He might have just had them print 'Cemetery' but he had a better idea. It gets Quistis every time she looks at it.

It reads: Balamb Gardens Early Graves.

"Oh Grave," Quistis says, smiling and shaking her head as she goes inside.

There's a lot of natural light in here, as much as the park. It's a beautiful place really, and not completely synthetic. The markers are real stone, the soil and grass are from the planets crust, the trees too. Really, only the walls are synthetic, the only part of this place that was here before there was a room.

Quistis finds Xu right away. She's always in the same place of course; Nida's marker is in the row closest to the entrance. Xu kneels, a position she wouldn't let anybody other than Quistis see her in. Not anymore.

Quistis kneels beside her and sets a polished blue stone on the marker. Gestures like this are few in the cemetery; they stand out like blood in water.

"Quistis?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you bring the cat?"

Marcus opens his eyes and lifts his head up from Quistis's shoulder the way a serpent does. He is very long, slung around her neck like a mink. He blinks at Xu, licks his lips, starts to purr for no reason.

"You're stressed." Quistis states smiley. "Cat's relieve stress."

"Not mine." Says Xu, something in her clenching as she speaks; her voice falters not for her mourning, but because she knows that's wrong. The fact that there is a salve for her suffering seems to demean Nida. Just the fact that she can be horny without him hurts.

"Nonsense," Quistis says, and then she lifts Marcus from her shoulders as though he was a snake and she lays him in Xu's lap. Xu looks down on the purring quadruped; he looks up adoringly at her adoring nothing in particular. She mourns, he purrs, and eventually his charm prevails. Xu picks the cat up and cradles him; Marcus adjusts himself a little bit, nestles his face between her boobs and starts purring louder. His very cold nose feels weird in that spot.

"Does he do this to you?" Xu asks, torn between throwing the sweet little pervert away and trying to enjoy the vibration.

"All the time. Less than he used to though, since he has Seifer to compete with."

Xu laughs a single laugh, but that smile disappears quickly as though she didn't want it.

"I'm considering promoting Grave and Joselyn." Xu says, and Quistis is content to let her change the subject. "I like the changes they've been making, and not just this place." Xu looks at Quistis, strokes Marcus's head. "I think they can make this army unstoppable."

Quistis sees madness there she doesn't quite trust, but she knows it's just because of Nida, nothing too dangerous. "I admit I was really skeptical about it at first myself, but cooperating with the Espers has improved things a great deal. We are a hell of a lot more intimidating if our Guardian Forces are beside us at all times like fellow soldiers."

"The intimidation factor is off the charts. And the Espers are obviously pleased with us. I'm grateful they didn't just destroy us as soon as we let them loose."

"That's why they didn't destroy us. They know they have our respect. Especially from Grave, he understood them before the rest of us did."

"That's right. Anyway, I'd like them to be my advisors. They've made some damn good decisions around here that I wouldn't have made by myself."

"Well you'll have to wait a while. They're meeting up with their folks today, and if all goes well they'll introduce each other back and forth. Plus Grave had his own little errand to run."

"That's fine, as long as I can meet them by the end of this week." Marcus lifts his head out of her boobs and tries to sniff her nose, squints cutely as he sniffs. Xu can't help but smile again, and her smile doesn't let up this time.

Quistis reaches over and pets him too.

_Three hands, oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about._

_**EG**_

Outside of Balamb Garden, Espers fly around the vessel as graceful as eels. The brighter ones light up the night sky, Salamander standing out brightest among them. Now they're free to form allegiance of their own will.

They might have destroyed the SeeD's out of vengeance but Salamander, like he always has, convinced them to stay their hands –and tails—because, on account of Grave, he understood the humans better than any of them. So he knew they deserved forgiveness, for they never had a clue what they'd been doing.

And now, with that mutual understanding, the humans are better protected than ever they were before. Every Esper was set free.

Now Salamander lights up the night sky

And his tears light up the ocean.

_**EG**_

"I still don't believe it. I'm looking right at it and I just can't believe it."

"You better believe it babe." He puts his arm around her waist and she leans into him. She's learned lately to just ignore what he says when he gets arrogant. She tried for ages to get him to stop and now, after all this time, he's still the same. Sometimes, you just have to accept defeat, and tune out the victor's gloating.

"I mean, darling, I love you," She looks up at him and pats his shoulder. "Honest and true," she turns back to the object of interest. "But this is just too much."

He nods his head and grins like a super hero in a toilet cleaner commercial. "Yes sir, a fine likeness."

Since they were teleported to Shumi Village, Raine visited the sculpting room just one other time. They day they arrived she and Laguna were treated like royalty, she was shocked by the Shumi at first, but their hospitality and utter lack of malevolence earned her trust right away. The sculpting room was the first place they were brought to.

The statue shocked her more than the Shumi did.

She couldn't react. Twenty minutes before she'd been cleaning the dishes at the bar in her own time. Next thing she knew she was in the same bar years ahead of time where Laguna was older. She met their son at an age awfully close to her own. She held her son –technically for the first time—and before she could finish taking in his scent she and Laguna were here. Then she was brought to look at a statue of him in his youth.

Her only thought was: Why make a statue of Laguna?

He was a fine man –if a bit bizarre—she'd be the last person to dispute that. But from what the Shumi knew of him at the time he really didn't seem statue worthy to her. Not even as the president of Esthar would she have him erected in stone. Eventually she just chocked it up to whimsy. This is art after all, and the artist creates because they can't help it, right?

And it was an accurate likeness, like Laguna kept saying.

"Yes sir, a fine likeness." Laguna said again, and clutched his blushing bride.

Blushing from embarrassment that is.

_**EG**_

This is what love feels like.

Fujin and Terra feel sorry for the people who can't admit this. It seems like some people are just hardwired to think that love has something to do with perfection: tedious, meticulous and constant maintenance of orderly symmetry. No, not at all. Love is this sense of unpolluted, undiluted rightness; warm, nourishing, impossible to argue against.

The whole apartment is black but for a single candle gently illuminating their nakedness. Their eyes are closed, their skin molded together with warmth and sweat. Their eyes are closed; all they see is wavering redness behind their eyelids. All they feel is the warmth and one others breath.

Fuck perfection.

_We have love._

_**EG**_

"You're gonna make me blush!" Rinoa complains when Squall pinches her butt. She gets off on that sort of thing. Since she likes the rough stuff pinching is like the soft kiss before the wild sucking.

"There's always a little rose in your cheeks sweetie, he isn't going to notice." Squall says, watching the numbers on the elevator descend as they go down to the PesticidE level.

"I blush very easily, you know that."

"Rinny, I'll be the only one down there with any emotional stake in your blushing, relax." He snakes his arm around her hip without pinching her, though she shies away at first, uselessly into the corner of the elevator.

"I just don't want Seifer to look at us and think we're on the verge of fucking each other in the middle of his seminar."

"He wouldn't even care about that. Hell, he'd probably encourage it."

Rinoa gives Squall a knowing look then he understands, "oh, so that's why." She nods. She doesn't want to encourage Seifer's perversion.

_That's a full time job though._

_But…I guess we can't depend on Quistis for that sort of thing anymore._

The opening elevator doors reveal an audience of fully uniformed PesticidE's, all new soldiers. Renovations created more room for bodyguard apartments. There's even a weight room and training quarters –Seifer wanted a bar too but Quistis punched him when he suggested it and he changed his mind, Zell couldn't stop laughing.

The PesticidE's are sitting in great circles on the floor cross legged but Squall and Rinoa choose to stand. They are separate from this after all, just watching.

Seifer stands at the center of attention in the middle of the oldest training circle. Xu gave him a commander uniform but he refuses to wear it and she can't make him anyway –the students protested like crazy when Xu tried to reinstate mandatory uniforms after being appointed Headmistress permanently. He is finishing a twenty four ounce bottle of Faygo, licks his lips, flings the bottle into a recycling bin in the corner leaving pinking orange droplets on the floor.

Seifer doesn't seem to notice they are there when he begins speaking.

"You are the new recruits; this means that we're going to make you do the all the hard work before you get even a lick of respect. Those of you who have worked in kitchens will be able to take this in stride –you will not be let off easy, if you think you can then you must've quit before the real fun began."

Everyone is quiet, Rinoa seems confused by Seifer's mentioning kitchens.

"Did he ever work in a kitchen?" Rinoa whispers and Squall can only shrug.

_Whatever, he's getting a roll going._

"A lot of you are lost individuals; some of you are probably even criminals. If there is a bounty on your head, your identity is uncovered, and if you have proved useful to this establishment then we will defend you to the death. We protect our own here.

"That is what you symbolize.

"You aren't just here to protect the children –because we are raising children here, and they stay children no matter what they go through whether they like it or not- you are here to also to encourage them to give each other the treatment that you give them as your job.

"You can't let them do the same thing for you.

"If somebody has to die you need to do your damnedest to make sure it's you. You are the first acceptable casualty. I hope this is the reason you came here for us, because I don't want to have to drill that mentality into any of you…" Seifer raised his voice then, "is anybody here still squeamish about your own lives?

Utter silence, Squall and Rinoa are just as disgusted as they are proud.

Seifer grins behind his blonde veils of hair. Rinoa and Squall hate him for it, love him for it.

"Good.

"You should know before you get started that you're going to learn a lot from the kids you'll be protecting." Seifer laughs, some of the PesticidE's stir. "It's funny, how you might learn your best lessons about selflessness and impermanence from the very kids you'll be taking the bullets for.

"Just a couple years ago I was out guarding a small group into Balamb. They were on a field trip and there'd been some hostile activity so they insisted on having one of us around. I volunteered since I was exhausted from doing real missions at the time. I still had both my eyes.

"I noticed there was one kid in particular staying away from the group. I didn't scold him, instead I walked next to him and we got to talking.

"His name's Grave. Smart kid, you'll all get to meet him soon I think. He stands out.

"I asked him if he was worried about dying and taking lives and he just said 'No,' just like that. His voice was empty but more alive than any of the other students. I asked him why and his answer was diamond-cold, solid, simple.

"He shrugged, then he said, 'We're soldiers, we die young.'

"Damn fucking right."

Squall doesn't realize that Rinoa has been squeezing his hand until Seifer is finished. He squeezes back to let her know he's back in reality with her. She looks into his eyes then and he looks back. She's desperate looking, like she doesn't know if she's okay with Seifer's orientation. It doesn't occur to either of them that he might mostly be lifting from Xu's version. Pinching her butt is the last thing on his mind.

Squall wishes he could go back to that childlike ignorance of natural violent impulses that Rinoa seems to have maintained. There's something just wonderful about not knowing, being able to pretend you don't know the things you've experienced firsthand.

But he can't, he really can't, because he believes that himself, it's ingrained into his own brain. Squall wonders if Grave got that sentiment from him.

_We're soldiers…_

Squall thinks.

…_we die young._

_**EG**_

I hesitate to leave the whelp after it lands. I'm expecting somebody; and I'm torn between wanting to see him again and meeting my family, or just turning around and going back to the one that I'm familiar with. This is not to say that I'm going to leave B-Garden, the academy is my home and I'm not leaving it.

It is going to change things though, when you know you're parents and they're still alive that changes the way you feel about being a soldier. It changes everything, the world changes.

Or maybe it's just me.

"Fuck it." I'll go; I suppose it's best to just go through with it.

I exit the whelp and I'm greeted with dry weather. The pilot doesn't bother to close the hatch. I told him I wouldn't be long.

There's the spot, and the kid I haven't spoken to for three years. He looks like he wants to run to me but he doesn't move. I told him I'd come to him after all.

My old jacket was ruined so Joselyn got another one for me. The hem goes down to my knees, the collar as high as my lips. The right sleeve flaps in the wind which annoys me. I wish I could get it tailored to have just one sleeve.

The healed knob at my shoulder still aches. Mrs. Heartily told me that probably won't stop. I could get medication for it but I don't think I should be putting chemicals in my body regularly as a soldier. I'm already pumping myself with magic all the time, and that's enough to cause an imbalance in your nervous system.

I'll just have to get used it.

I always do.

I stop one foot in front of my brother who stares at me with that big, single eye. He hasn't stopped smiling since the whelp landed. Neither have I.

Before I can hug him Leo throws himself at me and squeezes my ribs so hard I'd swear he was an assassin if I didn't know him. I just loop my arm around his shoulders. This is a pressure I can bear I think, as long as he doesn't put too much pressure on my arm socket.

"You think mom and dad'll be happy to see me?" It's probably a stupid question but I feel stupid not asking.

"Bro,'" Leo says, "If you'd been turned into a quadriplegic duck they'd still want to see you, and take care of you."

I smile; Leo always did have bizarre ways to put things. I guess that's why he's in the entertainment business now. "Well they won't be taking care of me. They shed that responsibility a long time ago."

"They're our parent's bro,' they'll want to take care of us forever." He lets go of me finally, stares up at me adoringly again. Hyne, this kid's sweet, he's not appalled by me at all, he isn't even angry that I didn't come right home out of crawling out of this spot those years ago.

Well, he does know what it's like to be a freak. I guess that's why.

"Let's get this done." I say reaching beneath my jacket. "I'm eager to meet the folks."

I produce both of my crowbars, I hand one to Leo who takes it and holds it like a club. That's fine, I didn't come here to give the kid lessons.

"Ready?" I ask, he nods.

We raise the crowbars above our heads, our skin and lungs drying up in this hot air, and we bring them down on the gravestone. The stone breaks and crumbles with each strike; it gives off dust the color of chalk. The stone feels so soft beneath the weight of the tools, like bashing in a big calcium tablet.

When there's nothing but a pile of rocks and dust we stop. The talons of my black tools are powdered white; our black clothes are dusted the same way. We must look like a couple of salt miners, or misbehaving children making the best of detention with the chalk erasers.

I blow the dust off my crowbar, Leo imitates me then hands his back. I hook them at my belt beneath my coat again. Joselyn wondered why I'm still carrying both of them with only one arm now. I wanted to say 'It's a crowbar woman, I'll find a use for it.' but I think she was being sarcastic. She knows I have sentimental attachment to these things. I'd keep them if I lost both of my arms.

"Let's go bro.'" I sling my arm around Leo's shoulder and we walk to the whelp, through the cockpit window I think I see Zell Dintch's hair. I'll just pretend it's not him.

So, there are other worlds than these huh? Well, as long as I get to see Joselyn there I don't care what happens.

I really don't care.

**The End**


End file.
